What if?
by finnie200
Summary: For Harriet, visiting Italy with the Dursley's did not promise to be anything special or different, yet it would end up having far reaching consequences on her life and the wizarding world in general.
1. Chapter 1

**My first story, I am dyslexic and basically did this as practice. Please tell me whether I should continue or not. I thought that for me it would be easier to write a Fem!Harry, I know some people don't like this so I felt the need to warn people. Some mentions of child abuse but I won't go into detail.**

* * *

'What' and 'if' are two very innocuous words in themselves, however when put together they can alter a person's life and fate. For instance, it is possible to ask 'what if Snape had not heard a certain prophecy at the Hog's Head' or 'what if James and Lily Potter had decided to make Sirius Black their Secret Keeper'. Indeed, it is even possible to ask what if the Dursley's hadn't been invited to visit a friend's villa in Italy, after all they had to take a long a certain girl who lived under the stairs. This one action changed a lot, for neither Vernon, Petunia or Dudley Dursley would return from this trip, nor even Harriet Potter, however her life would end up considerably different due to this trip.

However, we must now return to life at number 4 Private Drive, Surrey before the aforementioned trip. Life was normal. At least that was what it would appear to the neighbours and acquaintances of the Dursley family. There was no need for any mention of the fact that there was a possible witch aged seven living in a cupboard under their stairs, nor for the fact that it was she did an amount of chores too great for her age or small stature.

However, as life is apt to do, it all changed suddenly when sometime in April the overweight figure of Mr. Vernon Dursley returned home from work. Routine was a well-established affair generally at the Dursley household, Vernon would enter the house, greet his wife and son with a peck on the cheek and then sit at the kitchen table waiting for his niece (although he would try to deny this relationship) to serve supper. This was how it was done, so when Vernon altered this routine, there could only be something interesting about to happen. After his greetings for Petunia and Dudley, Vernon did not go to the kitchen, indeed he encouraged his wife and son into the sitting room before starting to explain his excitement.

"Pet, Dudders! I have had the most exciting day today. You remember that business man who was interested in the Grunning's last month? Well, he has offered us the use of his holiday house for a couple of weeks over the summer. So we are going to Italy for a fortnight!"

The reaction of the other members of number 4 were all different, Petunia's was perhaps the most expected, after all she now had something to look forward to, something to boast about in the lead up to the trip and something to talk about when she returned. After all, number 7 were only going to France for a week, and they certainly would not be staying in a private villa. Dudley's reaction was excited but for different reasons after all, he was seven and so didn't quite understand the whole situation but his parents were excited so why should he not be too? After all, he was receiving attention from his parents, even though at this point he was more concerned with his supper rather than what was going to occur in two months' time. For the sake of fairness, we must too examine the reaction of a small figure who stood outside the open door of the sitting room, for her she saw no reason to expect her life to change. She at this point was more concerned about whether supper would be overcooked by the time Petunia stopped her ramblings about how 'wonderful and amazing' the trip was going to be, indeed she was more concerned again with whether or not she would get supper at all. So the unnaturally green and grave eyes left the door of the sitting room and turned towards the kitchen, waiting for the inevitable strop from Dudley about supper being late.

When the Dursley's did finally come through to the kitchen it was to a supper laid out on the table and Harriet washing up saucepans. It was at this point perhaps the reality slightly caught up with the Dursley's.

"I suppose this means that _she_ will have to come, we can't leave her in the house alone for two weeks and if we left her behind it would be suspicious" said Vernon.

Petunia had reached the same conclusion it seemed as she added, "Indeed, we can't leave her, _they_ might be watching, well we can leave her in the car when we go out."

This seemed to garner a reaction from their son who, when realising they were talking about someone other than himself, decided to make his already considerable person more known. At the age of seven his tempers could fell the dinner table, and he was well versed in what made his parents react: "But… but… I don't want _her_ to come, she ruins everything".

Recognising what was about to happen, Mr and Mrs Dursley turned their attention to their pride and joy. "She won't ruin everything, I promise Sweetie. She just has to come with us, otherwise we won't be able to go" said Petunia as she reached over to console her 'distraught' son.

Realising what his wife was trying to avoid, Vernon jumped on the 'avoid-Dudley-having-a-tantrum' train. "That's is right Dudley, don't worry, we will leave her at the villa or in the car when we can."

At this point, they recalled that the subject of their conversation/ire was still in the room, whereupon Vernon stood up and dragged her out of the kitchen and to her cupboard, bodily throwing her inside he snarled at her: "you heard us, _girl,_ no funny business, we are only taking you because we have to. If you step once out of line between now and when we get back from Italy then I shall take the belt to you again. Do you understand?"

Almost without waiting for an answer, he slammed the door shut with such force that little puffs of dust exploded above our heroine's head. With a sigh, Harriet realised that supper, or indeed food or any kind seemed off the cards again. However, this was not an uncommon thing so she had learned to deal with it, reaching under the truckle bed squeezed into the space, Harriet pulled out her school bag and pulled out a slightly bruised apple from the school lunch which she proceeded to eat with some gusto. Lying back on her bed, Harriet read and reread the chalk writing on the wall above her bed, 'Harriet Lily Dorea Potter' and underneath 'James Charlus Potter' and 'Lily Potter'. Having not known her full name or her parents' names before Aunt Petunia had filled out the forms for school, Harriet had made sure to write them up, a reminder that she did have parents who had once loved her, or at least that is what she hoped. Whilst her aunt may say that her parents were no-good, lazy individuals, Harriet's dreams said otherwise. She imagined a family, parents who loved her, not existed with her. This path was lost to her though, however, that is not to say that eventually she would receive a family, that whilst unconventional would love her.

* * *

 **Not quite sure where I am going from here if I do go anywhere. Hope it is alright!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Second chapter and we get to meet some of the Volturi who by the way are very out-of-character but they were funner to write this way. I have mixed up timelines a bit, this is before the events of Twilight. On a side note, I have decided to go with two types of vampires, it will all be explained later in the chapter.**

* * *

Perhaps in our discovery of events leading up to the Dursley's trip to Italy we have neglected to describe in detail the protagonist of the story. Harriet Lily Dorea Potter was a rather typical seven year old that is at least at first glance, although she looked much younger than she actually was. She was small and slight with dark hair that curled untamed to the small of her back as her aunt could never be bothered to take her to the hair dressers, not that they would be able to do much as her hair seemed to be perpetually messy with random flicks and tangles. She wore thick glasses that came from a charity box and clothes passed down from her cousin who by this point had about as much blubber as a seal (and was still gaining). The only strange thing that one could say about her outward appearance was her scar, however this was nearly always hidden behind her fringe so only few perhaps outside of her family knew it was even there.

However, she certainly did not lack academically, despite what her report card may say. Lesson one at school had been that if she wished to avoid her odious cousin she should simply visit the library there, the only place Dudley and his 'gang' were more likely to avoid was the sports hall. As with many lonely children, books became a refuge and whilst she was certainly not reading books years ahead of her she read rather expansively. Lesson two at school had been that she had to do worse at school than Dudley, her first report card that placed her at the top of the class and well above her cousin had done nothing but earn her a beating. So she learned to hide her intelligence, manipulating her grades to place below her cousin.

Life with the Dursley's was difficult, without the love and devotion of anyone it may be possible to assume that Harriet would turn out a damaged child, however that was not the case. Partly because Harriet believed that things could only get better. Childish naivety it may have been but it sustained and supported her well.

However, we must now return to the trip to Italy with the Dursley's. The flight to Marco Polo Airport Venice from Heathrow had proved tiresome for everyone. As could only be expected Vernon complained, Petunia judged others and Dudley threw a tantrum, (several in fact) meanwhile Harriet stayed as quiet as possible, avoiding attention and her cousin's fists. Needless to say the Dursley family were not very popular on the flight. Upon reaching the airport in Venice the Dursley's and Harriet then took their hire care out to the town of Bassano del Grappa in the area outside of Venice where the villa was. Already by this point, Harriet had realised that this holiday was likely to end in a disaster, even supper didn't go very well, Harriet had been locked in an empty pool house on the grounds of the villa so she didn't 'cause trouble' by which Aunt Petunia probably meant eat any food or watch any television. From what Harriet could discern later when she was let out, Vernon had decided that the authentic Italian pizza was not as good as the ones Petunia had gotten from the supermarket in England. Apparently Vernon hadn't been quiet in voicing this opinion.

The following day, Harriet was once again left in the pool house whilst the Dursley's traipsed off to Vicenza to see the sites, or in Dudley's case, the ice cream shops. When they returned with Dudley and Vernon looking like some sort of pig with the amount of sweat pouring off them, Harriet was once more let out to cook for her 'family'.

"Get out here, _Freak,_ start cooking" Vernon snarled, really despite the fact he looked like some sort of misshapen walrus he could snarl as effectively as Aunt Marge's dogs. As she was apt to do, Harriet did not even deign to reply and instead started to prepare the meat for the evening.

However, later when Harriet removed the roast from the grill to place on the table, it just had to go wrong. As she caught the roasting tin on the edge of the oven the meat fell, plummeting to the floor, although never hitting it as it remain suspended in the air by some unknown force. Meanwhile, the boiling gravy ended up on Harriet's hands and arms, crying out in pain and trying to sort the dish and the meat she failed to see her 'dear' Uncle enter behind her.

The yell that he gave returned Harriet to her senses and the meat fell to the floor. Grabbing his niece by the hair, Vernon marched her out of the kitchen and out of the villa towards to the pool house, intent on punishing her for her 'freakishness'.

* * *

It is easy to imagine that being affiliated with the Volturi was all about the dismemberments and punishments associated with existence as part of the main coven of vampires. This was not necessarily true, indeed if one lived an immortal life it was a struggle to cope without either finding an interest or having a rather robust sense of humour. Many of the Volturi guards existed due to both of these, with masks that would make a certain head of Slytherin House rather proud, when confronted with other vampires. None of the vampires of the Volturi were younger than eight hundred years, the youngest being the 'Witch Twins', Alec and Jane who were turned during the 13th century. Indeed, the three Kings of the Volturi were all born before Christ and before the Roman Empire in Ancient Greece. Marcus escaped the destruction of Troy and later turned Caius who was originally from Sparta and Aro from had been part of Alexander the Great's army.

Boredom was a rather routine part of life in the castle at Volterra, after all life was monotonous. Seriously repetitive most of the time, gone were the times in the dark ages when vampire covens ran amok and needed to be culled, gone too were the days when the werewolves tore wild through Europe. Whilst there were still rumblings of the Southern Wars in America and Mexico they only ever needed managed every couple decades. Indeed even the Romanians who for so long had tried to subvert the authority of the Volturi had rather gone to ground and whilst this may be seen as suspicious few could bring themselves to care. For the past century things had been dull, too dull.

"66705… 66706…66707…66708…66709…66710…66711…"

"Alec, what the hell are you doing?" Jane exclaimed as she rounded the corner to see her brother sitting on the floor with a tennis ball.

"66712… I am trying to see how many times I can bounce this ball against the wall and catch it… 66713…66714"

Silence followed for a moment as Jane tried to process this, "You are a vampire, you aren't going to drop it, why bother?"

"66715… I am bored, bored, bored, bored. There is no one visiting, Felix and Demetri are out…66716… and the Kings have told me that if I continue annoying them they dismember me…66717"

At this point, Jane rather decided that she had been irritated enough by her brother and stole the ball.

"JANE, no, why? What am I going to do now?"  
"Get a life?"  
"Oh good joke, go tell the vampire to get a life"  
"Oh for the love of God Alec, come on, we are going out, you have vexed me enough"  
"Where are we going?"  
"OUT"  
"Okay, okay, I thought vampires couldn't get hormonal"

At this point Alec received a cloak thrown in his face and a glare full of malice. After getting to leave the castle, the twins left running from the city into Tuscany. It was only then that Alec decided to try again to get an answer from his sister:

"So where are we going?"

"We are going to find you a hobby or anything to stop you irritating everyone. Come on, let's go east."

So together the Witch Twins of the Volturi ran east towards Venice. However, their journey was halted when they heard the cries of pain and smell of blood from a villa nearby. Running to check they saw an obese man kicking a child who lay cowering on the floor covered with blood. In an instant both Alec and Jane recognised the smell of magic. Magic has a distinctive smell, like lightning or a storm, the more powerful, the stronger the smell. For the Twins it was easy to recognise the blood split as that of a witch and a powerful one at that.

After 'removing' the detritus that was Vernon Dursley, Alec and Jane looked at each other, the girl lying on the floor between them and each other again.

"Well that went well"

"Jane, what do we do with the girl?"

"Hang on, let me speak to her…. Hello?"

The expression on Harriet's face was a mixture of shock, awe and terror but she still replied: "Hello, ma'am"

"What is your name?"

"Hawwiet Potter, ma'am"

"Jane, I swear I have heard that name before somewhere, but for the life of me I can't remember where, anyway, was that your father? And can I just say you speak adorably?"

"No sir that was my uncle, my no-good dwunk parents died and so I live with Aunt 'Tunia and Uncle Vernon and Dudley"

"Where is your Aunt?"

"In the kitchen ma'am, I was a fweak and so had to be punished"

At this Alec and Jane gaped slightly, the only explanation they could think of was that the girl had performed accidental magic and for it been punished, that did not sit well with them. They had been around long enough to know about the magic world and so understood that these things were accidental, they could not be controlled.

"Jaaaane?"

"What Alec?"

"I always wanted a little sister."

"Yes, that would be a wonderful idea, let's bring an abused child back to the home of the rulers of the vampire world. That is a wonderful idea"

"I know right… oh, that was sarcasm. Still though, we can at least ask?"

All this time, Harriet was sitting on the floor watching with wide eyes and mouth agape.

"Excuse me, sir and ma'am, what is going to happen to me?"

"We are just going to sort that out now, by the way I am Alec and this is my sister Jane, we are vampires"

"Way to break it to her gently"

"Well I read somewhere you should just rip a Band-Aid off in one, it is easier"

"Oh shut up you moron, now I am going to go sort the other members of the family. You can call, Aro and tell him the good news, having a child before you are married, what would he say Alec?"

"I feel that I should take the role of big brother, you can play mother if you want but I am definitely the cool brother."

"Speaking from experience, I don't agree with that"

"What's a vampiwe?"

"Well this is going to go well then." With that Jane handed Alec a phone and left the pool house heading towards the house. She smirked slightly as she imagined how Alec was going to explain to Harriet what a vampire was and to Aro that they were trying to pick up a stray.

* * *

"Please, please, please, ple…"

Aro interrupted, "let me get the facts straight and do shut up Alec, let Jane speak! You want to bring a witch child back to live with a group of vampires after you killed her last remaining family and then set their villa on fire?"

"Yes, well when you put it like that it makes us sound bad and her sound like a pet but she is cute,"

Alec decided to chime in again at this point: "Everyone will love her, Heidi and Chelsea will have someone to shop for, Demetri and Felix will love the whole idea, Retena and Marcus just won't care, Athenedora and Sulpica will get to be mothers (of a kind). There is no downside… **and** I won't be bored anymore."

"I think that you may have missed one person in your oh, so helpful list, Caius?" Jane's sarcasm was obvious, even to Alec.

"Oh, he may strop for a bit but he will get over it when he meets Harriet… do you think I can call her Hattie or Harry?"

Over the phone Aro could hear Jane sigh and exclaim, "I have neither the time nor the crayons to explain this to you. Caius will kill her, then you would be rather sad wouldn't you?"

The bickering continued but by this point Aro wasn't sure what was more irritating, the fact that two of his most feared guards were trying to start a mini family or the fact that he was considering it. Ahh, boredom, the curse of any immortal.

The Volturi had known about the magical world for millennia, how could they not? Indeed many of their original governing systems were based on the vampire community. Britain for example was ruled by the Sacred Twenty Eight families in a manner not too far from the Volturi's rule. Centuries ago the Volturi were good friends and advisors to the magical world, however the centuries had led this relationship to falter and a presumption had arisen on the part of the magical world, that the Volturi and (what they termed 'muggle vampires') were ignorant of their little set up. The main problem was that there were magical vampires and there were muggle or mundane vampires and though both lived as long as each other and had their own governments, mundane vampires were more enduring and hardy but could not use magic at all. Magical vampires could use a little magic but not nearly as much as they could before they were changed. This is not to say that the two groups of vampires didn't interact after all Sanguini, the Prince of the European vampire clans often came to visit, but the Volturi did not make their knowledge of the magical world once again known.

Keeping a child at Volterra would prove to be difficult, there were so many problems that could arise and if it was a normal child then Aro would have never agreed. However, a magical child, well that was different... and interesting, Aro liked experiments.

"Fine, take her to the hospital to get her checked up and then bring her here." With that Aro hung up, unwilling to hear Alec's reaction.


	3. Chapter 3

**As always, I don't own the Harry Potter nor Twilight worlds and am writing for fun.**

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Standing before the entire assembled coven of the Volturi Aro was more than a little uncomfortable, which was a state he neither enjoyed nor found common. Since he received the call from Alec and Jane an hour ago, Aro had been turning over in his mind how he was going to persuade/announce Harriet's visit. He believed that if he put it to the vote with the whole coven then it may be easier, then at least Athenodora and Sulpica may be able to persuade Caius that it was a good idea. Deciding it was probably best to get it over with Aro started his announcement:

"I have gathered you all here as I received a rather interesting call from Jane and Alec who were bored and so decided to go out for a run. I think we are all rather bored at the moment…"

At this Caius interrupted: "Get on with it, we may be immortal but I would rather not be forced to ask Felix and Demetri to kill me to escape your tedious and mind-numbing ramblings"

"Right, they apparently passed a villa and heard screaming and when they went to see what it was they found a child being abused for accidental magic. Well naturally, they got angry and killed the girl's family and I had Alec on the phone begging to be allowed to bring her back here to live"

Silence followed this statement, Aro's smile didn't falter and he clasped his hands together in front of him as he looked down at everyone. About twenty seconds later when he still received no response other than blank stares he shuffled slightly and pouted a little.

"Well, I think it is a marvellous idea." Everyone looked over to Sulpica in slight shock that someone had broken the silence.

"Are you as foolish as your husband, Pica? A child, what are we going to do with it? Have playdates, go to her sport's days, and watch Disney films together?"

It was at this point that Felix decided to get involved with the discussion: "I don't know, I would quite happily watch Disney films with her, I haven't seen most of them as I felt one should watch them with a child and apparently Alec is too old for them"

"Just think about it, we would get to buy children's clothes, it would be so much fun" Chelsea exclaimed.

"WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU ALL? SHE IS A HUMAN, WE EAT HUMANS, WHAT HAPPENS WHEN SOMEONE EATS HER BY MISTAKE? OR IF SOMEONE IS TOO ROUGH HER? SHE MAY BE MAGICAL BUT WE CAN'T LOOK AFTER HER, FEED HER OR ANYTHING! MARCUS, TELL THEM THEY ARE FOOLS"

Aro winced at Caius' shouts: "Inside voice Caius, please.

"I AM SERIOUS ARO, WE ARE VAMPIRES, THIS ISN'T AN OPPORTUNITY FOR ONE OF YOUR EXPERIMENTS, WE CAN'T JUST GIVE HER BACK. WE HAVE TO PUT UP WITH MOST OF YOUR ECCENTRIC AND IDIOTIC IDEAS BUT THIS IS TOO FAR! ONE CUT, ONE FALL AND SHE IS DINNER TO A PASSING GUARD!"

"Marcus, what do you think though?"

Everyone turned to the quietest of the kings, knowing that he had the ruling vote. He had also been closest to the magical community centuries ago, indeed it was he who introduced Godric Gryffindor, Salazar Slytherin, Rowena Ravenclaw and Helga Hufflepuff. His wispy tones rang out through the room:

"We should at least meet the child, before we make any final decisions. How old is she?"

Hearing this Caius through up his hands and stormed out of the room, intent on finding somewhere away from the morons he lived with. He was the only one who left though as everyone else turned their red eyes to Aro.

"She is seven and apparently rather adorable"

"So where is she, husband?"

"Jane and Alec have had to take her to the hospital, she had been abused when they found her and so have taken to her to see a doctor, and hopefully they will be here this evening. They don't have a car so I will sent one to meet them at the hospital at Ferrara, I didn't think it would be practical for them to run home with an injured child."

* * *

"Okay, okay… Places everyone, act natural and now, I need Marcus to stop looking so apathetic; Felix, look smaller; Heidi and Chelsea, stop bouncing; Sulpicia, just stop, we don't want to scare the poor girl"

"Oh yes because acting like a lemur on crack isn't going to scare her, is it Aro?"

Caius' snarky remark brought Aro slightly back down to earth, not that it made that much of a difference.

Hearing a heart beat a few hundred metres away they all glanced towards the door. As there were only two pairs of footsteps it was obvious that one of the twins was carrying the girl. Conversation drifted down towards them:

"It will be alright, don't worry Harry!" That was Alec.

"But what if they don't like me? Will I have to go back to England?"

"Stop worrying, come on"

The door entered to show the two small vampires, Alec carrying a small girl who had one arm in plaster and several plasters on her face. She was dressed in a hospital night gown and looked tiny, even to the Volturi's rather limited interactions with children. Obviously seeing the eyes fixed on her, she hid her face into Alec's shoulder before quickly peeking another look.

Even Caius would admit she looked rather sweet as she tried to inconspicuously look at them all.

"Okay Harry, shall I introduce to everyone?" At her slight nod Alec continued, "Okay, you don't have to remember names or anything. But these are Aro, Marcus and Caius, they are essentially our kings. And this Sulpica, Aro's mate and Athenodora, Caius' mate."

"Is that like a wife?"

"Yes, exactly. Now the guard, there is Felix, Demetri, Afton, Chelsea, Heidi, Renata and Corin. There are some more but they don't live here like we do. Okay."

"Yes, sir"

"Harry, I have said you don't have to call me sir."

Harriet yawned as the pain killers took effect and snuggled more into Alec's chest, grabbing his cloak in her small fists.

"Harriet?"

"Yes, Mr Aro, sir"

"Like Alec, you do not need to call me sir. I have got a bedroom made up for you. Alec can show you the ways."

"I get a bedroom?"

Aro was surprised by this, "Of course, where else would you sleep"

"I slept in a cupboard with the Dursley's, freak's don't deserve bedrooms"

Her words were like a slap in the face to the members of the Volturi and they vowed to ensure she needn't feel like that again. Jane decided to help the others out who were a little stumped by the girl's words,

"You are not a freak, Harriet, remember we talked about this in the hospital? Now I am going to take you to bed, you can talk to everyone properly in the morning but I douby you are completely coherent with all the drugs running through you at the moment."

As Jane left with Alec in tow who was still holding Harriet there was a chorus of farewells which Harriet tried to answer through her yawns. As soon as the door closed behind the trio Caius spoke, shocking everyone with his words,

"She will stay but she will be taught and looked after by us all. I am going to go phone Sanguini, we can get some advice from him."

* * *

At some point practicality had to rear its head. They were vampires who only kept up with the necessities of modern life, for instance they could use phones but ask them to use a computer then they would be stuffed and forced to speak nicely to their human secretary. Apart from being a 'human' façade this was the main job of the secretary, to help a group of vampires who had existed outside normal world at times before electricity, airplanes and basically modern life adjust.

"I suppose this means we are going to have to learn how to cook. Shotgun not!"

"Felix, we will all just chip in to avoid arguments, and what does 'shotgun not' even mean? I mean why a shotgun, why not air rifle or bazooka not?"

"Let's leave the morphology and linguistic studies for now Aro. There are more important things to be sorted. I belief the first thing to do is to contact our informers in the magic world and see what they can tell us about the situation there and what to expect with a young magic child. We are raising a magical child, let us get some advice. Secondly, we should build a completely sound proof suite of rooms for Harriet to live in so that if covens come to visit or we have trials there is no risk of her presence being discovered." This statement was met by vigorous nods of the head by, particularly the female members of the coven who seemed excited by the idea of remodelling the palace.

Meanwhile, Marcus ploughed on: "Thirdly, we should start to work out a schooling programme, we have decided to raise Harriet and she will therefore as Caius said be representative of the Volturi, we shall not send a child in who does not know all the basic grounding that we can give her."

"You are right Marcus. Let us go through each person and see what they could teach Harriet. I can teach her music and mundane history. Marcus, you can teach her literature and magical history, you are best informed in that area I believe. Sulpica and Athenodora can teach her deportment and conduct, she is our _p_ _iccolo principessa_ and she will be taught to be able to act as such. Caius can be Harriet's instructor in the ancient languages, so Latin, Greek and I think we should throw in some Old English and Norse, as well as a grounding in art and culture."

"We must be careful not to overload the girl Aro."

"It is easier to teach it to her now when she is young, Pica. At any rate magical schools in Europe start at eleven so we only have four years or so anyway."

"What about the rest of us?"

At this Marcus spoke, "Felix, you can teach her Italian and Spanish, even if it is just the basics it is important. Demetri, you can tackle Modern Greek, as Caius will be teaching her Ancient Greek too it should be relatively easy, also Russian. Chelsea, can you teach French and dance. Heidi, you are the best with the 'outside world', could you help there, organise trips and the like so Harriet can understand the world, she seems rather lacking in this area at the moment. Alec and Jane, can you teach maths and sciences? Everyone else will be called upon at some time, history will be better taught by those who can remember experiencing it."

"We will probably end up adding more when we hear from the magical vampires, see if we can get trips for Harriet to the magical communities" Aro added.

"Are you sure this is not just too much for Harriet? I mean, from abusive relatives where she was treated like a slave to living with a bunch of overprotective vampires who just to add to it, rule the vampire world?"

Ever the optimist Felix answered Chelsea's perfectly valid question with: "Na, it will be fine, we will have fun, we won't be bored at least"

"I think she meant from Harriet's point of view, not your own Felix"

"I know Jane, but she seems an intelligent girl, what can go wrong?"


	4. Chapter 4

**This is basically a series of oneshots of the first few weeks of Harriet's life with the Volturi.**

 **As always, I own nothing relating to any of the Harry Potter or Twilight worlds and I am writing for fun.**

* * *

Chapter 4:

"Now, I have been tasked to teach you the ancient languages of Latin and Greek. Together they form a bedrock for many of the modern European languages which you will have to study with the others. Whilst they may not be used commonly outside the Volturi, they are useful for law, spells and study practice. We will start with the basics of grammar, I should hope that within two years you are capable of speaking them fluently. Is this understood?"

At this Harriet looked rather startled, Caius pacing had stopped as he glanced at the seven year old who sat swinging her legs on a chair before a desk.

"Yes, sir, I understand"

"Good, now. Get some paper. We shall start with the basics of grammar which you may have been taught but it is better to understand completely. With nouns in Latin there is Nominative, Vocative, Accusative, Genitive, Dative, and Ablative. Now the Nominative is the subject, that is to say 'a boy', Vocative is for addressing, so 'o boy'…

The lesson continued, with Harriet repeating by rote various declensions of verbs and nouns, Caius beating out the rhythm of her recital with a ruler on the desk.

* * *

Meanwhile, Marcus sat in his office thinking over the previous fortnight since Harriet had arrived. She had improved greatly, no longer flinching whenever someone touched her or spoke too loud. The latter fact was particularly useful as Caius, Felix, Jane, Pica... pretty much everyone in the castle were quite loud. The eldest of the vampire kings was glad he had this opportunity to help a magical child, she would be prepared for life in the magical world, for the prejudice and hurts that Sanguini reported ran deep. That was a change, a change he did not like.

He had first met the Founder of Hogwarts whilst he had been taking a break from Volturi life in Britain, two centuries after his mate had been killed by the Romanians. He had met Rowena first, she had witnessed the death of her brother and parents at the hands of the witch-hunters and was about to be torn from her hiding place to be burned at the stake when Marcus rescued her. They had met Salazar next, he had been a travelling magical teacher of sorts and had decided to join Marcus and Rowena, together they made an odd group for sure but they continued to travel. They met Helga and Godric who were already travelling together around a fortnight later, they had lived in Wales before a group of witch-hunters had destroyed their home. For Marcus it was a wonderful time as they all learned about each other and Marcus saw the bonds of the four grow stronger and stronger.

Things had to get weird though. Marcus had been away hunting when he returned to find his four companions passed out drunk in front of the fire, that wasn't the weird bit, the weird bit was the magically binding contract sitting on the table beneath the bottles of ale. A contract that agreed that the four of them would build a school for witches and wizards called 'Hogwarts'. Marcus had groaned when he had read it, trust them to agree to build a school or die.

The following morning he had been quite glad of his vampiric memory, it allowed him the perfect memory of Salazar, proud man that he was, hexing Godric, apparently it was he who had decided that 'Hogwarts' was a good name for a school. Not that Godric really cared about the fact he was now purple with green spots, he was too busy laughing at the idea of a school called after pig's blemishes. Rowena and Helga had sat, mouths agape, as they watched the pair of men they had agreed to found a school with, one of whom was practically crying he would go down for history as a founder of a school called 'Hogwarts' whilst the other was crying with laughter.

Marcus had been the one to give the four Founders a rather large amount of money to build the castle to house the school. It was an amazing place, that was all Marcus could really say about the place. From Hel's Ward Room to Ric's forest filled with all manner of creatures, from Row's stunning (but also slightly bizarre) Room of Requirement to Zar's Chamber of Secrets, Marcus had seen them all. One of his biggest regrets from the loss of the relationship between the mundane vampires and magic world was he could no longer visit. He knew of only one portrait of the Founders', it included him too and showed the day when they had all placed the first foundation stone for the castle. It had been imbued with their personalities and gifted to Marcus but he had given it to Hogwarts as an item of historical value, he regretted it now but hopefully he would see it again soon.

It had been annoying Sanguini had been unable to visit yet, but he was a Prince had duties too. He would visit soon, Marcus was sure. Aro was sure to have fun introducing Harriet to the magical vampire and it would be useful to see whether it was possible to introduce the Volturi's adopted family member to the magical world.

* * *

"ARO, shut up, if I hear you once more singing that accursed song I will rip your tongue from your mouth"

"I am sure I don't know what you mean, why don't you ' _just let it go_ ' Caius?"

A roar of anger sounded through Volturi followed by some insane giggling from Aro as he was chased through the corridor by Caius

"I know you normally ' _conceal, don't feel_ ' and ' _don't let them know_ ' but it is always fun when you ' _let it go_ ' Caius"

"ARO"

Running into the gardens Aro decided to continue the game: "Come on Caius, we in the garden now, we really should stop this but I suppose the ' _cold never bother me anyway"'_

By this point Caius was too annoyed to answer, after all Aro had been singing and reciting that damn film for two days now and after narrowly avoiding a tree turned to see Aro further ahead of him.

Aro wasn't finished though "Caius, you know ' _it's funny how some distance makes everything seem small_ ' even your head!"

By this point most of the Volturi had heard the race between their two kings and some had gathered to see their progress. Racing into the receiving hall once more Aro turned:

"It is always fun ' _to test the limits and break through'_ don't you think brother?"

At this point Sulpica and Athenodora decided that their husband's killing each other did not set a good example and so intervened.

"Whoever decided to introduce Aro to those damn Disney musical films is in charge of answering the phone for the next week. Who let him anywhere near the television? I know Harriet watches it sometimes with you but please for the love of God, please don't let Aro anywhere near the thing!"

"Pica dear, I was thinking we should have a ball soon"

"Aro, we are having a discussion here, what does having a ball do with you irritating everyone?"

"Well they have a large ball in _Frozen_ , and _Beauty and the Beast_ , and _Cinderella_ , and _Sleeping Beauty_ , there isn't really one in _Tangled_ but I thought we could have a Disney themed ball."

Silence

More silence

"Of course brother, the vampires leaders are going to have a Disney themed ball, shall we invite the Romanians at the same time, it would be sure to solidify our position. Maybe we can invite the Cullens; that should remove any suggestion of us as blood thirsty rulers who kill first and speak later."

"Sarcasm Athenodora?"

"YES"

"Well I thought it was a good idea, no-one ever listens to me"

"I wonder why?"

* * *

June had passed and it nearing the end of July when Jane remembered something. The main guard and the kings were gathered in the throne room at that moment discussing the Romanians, although the conversation inevitably turned back to Harriet, she was there favourite subject.

"Alec, I swear something happens at the end of July, I can't remember what, I was with you when we were told, can you remember?"

"No, what is it in relation to?"

"Harriet, I think, we were waiting in the hospital"

Rather nonchalantly Alec answered, "Oh, her birthday is the 31st July, that must be it"

There was a sudden moment of silence, then everyone looked at Alec, or rather his lack of reaction. His eyes comically widened as he remembered what he had just said. Chelsea started to get excited,

"Her birthday, right we have five days to plan the perfect birthday party"

At the word 'party' Aro perked up even more, if that was possible.

"I love parties, what needs done? Food, entertainment, invitations, presents!"

Marcus decided to intervene at this: "Aro, why don't you go and get some paper so we can write down ideas and plans?"

With that Aro ran out of the room. Seeing him gone, Marcus decided to continue "Right people, we need to tone down Aro, otherwise the party will go even more overboard than it will already go"

Caius smirked, "Good idea, who wants to distract Aro for the next five days"

Needless to say no-one put their hand up.

* * *

The 31st July came quicker than anyone had anticipated, Caius put this down to the fact that Aro wasn't there, Pica had dragged him away to Oslo with the excuse she wanted to get a silversmith there to get a present for Harriet. Planning had been swift and under Marcus' supervision they had managed not to go overboard. The fact that the cake was 60cm wide was obviously down to a clerical error and the fact that everyone had two presents for Harriet was clearly due to someone not being clear enough when saying that people shouldn't go overboard with the party. Overall, it could have gone much worse.

Aro and Sulpica had arrived back that morning and Aro now swung between sulking as he didn't get to plan the party and bouncing like a rabbit. They had managed to keep any knowledge of the party from Harriet, although there had been some near misses from Felix who sometimes struggled to keep his mouth shut when necessary. Chelsea had been asked to bring Harriet down after her French lesson and Aro had decided as it was a surprise party everyone should hide and jump out. Caius saw this as rather unnecessary, okay, very unnecessary so he had in a very dignified manner hidden behind his throne grumbling about overexcited morons.

As Chelsea entered the room carrying Harry who was dressed in her second outfit of the day everyone jumped our,

"SURPRISE"

"Surprise what?

"Surprise it's your birthday Harriet" said Felix, this was a little awkward...

"I have a birthday?"

Aro decided to confirm matters, "Yes, come on little one. We have cake and presents. This is your birthday, the 31st July every year."

Leading her towards the table Caius lifted her into her seat so she could blow out the candles on the too large cake,

"Remember to make a wish when you blow out the candles, little one"

As Harriet blew out the candles on the first birthday cake she could remember she screwed up her eyes and wished as hard as she could. Marcus suddenly felt the bonds shift in the room, staring at Harriet he saw a bond connecting her to him that was a strong green colour, recognising it for it was, he gasped.

"Harriet, really?"

Harriet looked to the floor and shuffled awkwardly,

"It was just... I mean I know you didn't say but... I just thought..."

Her ramblings were interrupted as an ecstatic Marcus picked up her up and pulled her to his chest,

"I don't mind in the least, I would love it if you would, sweetheart."

"Really?"

"Really really?"

"This is all very nice and all Marcus but can someone explain please?"

"Way to ruin the moment Felix" Corin grumbled

"I... well I wished that Marcus would be my Daddy"

"I am a Daddy"

"Well that makes me an uncle, I can be Uncle Aro, I think that flows quite nicely. I can be the cool uncle, Caius can be the grumpy one"

Marcus at this point was rather glad he was still holding _his_ daughter Harriet, as at this point Caius decided to punch Aro. And so in true style one of the best moments of Marcus' life concluded with his two brothers having a pitched battle whilst he sat on his throne holding his daughter.

* * *

"You know we are acting rather like the Cullen's"

Demetri's comment drew a gasp of horror from Caius: "You take that back, we are nothing like them, the fact that we are raising a child does not mean we are like that group of narcissistic, self-absorbed, stroppy, hormonal, teenage, unnatural brats"

"Caius, you have a drawing that Hattie did stuck on the wall above your desk!"

"That does not compare at all and shut up Marcus, I preferred it when you didn't speak at all!"

"Can we please return to the fact that Caius called someone 'narcissistic' and 'stroppy', pot meet kettle!" Sulpica's comment was met with some thoughtful faces and then emphatically nodding heads. Caius just scowled.

* * *

"No, no one can see her, Harry is ours and she will stay ours. The Cullen's can't come to visit, I don't care."

"Caius, we cannot just keep her shut up in the castle until she goes to school, she has to experience meeting new people."

"Marcus, you are supposed to be her father, you should be keeping her safe. And at any rate I still feel that she should not go to any magical school, just stay here with us."

"We are not discussing this again husband, my niece will go to school, although I dread to think what happens if she decides to bring a boyfriend home to meet the family."

"I agree Dora, tell you what, two vintage Dior dresses says one of them tries to attack the future boyfriend before he even introduces himself?"

"Deal, and by the way Caius, the Cullens are still coming to visit in a couple of months as they always do. Or at least Carlisle and his wife are, I am not too sure about the others in the coven. They come every year and if we don't let them it will look a little suspicious."

With that Athenodora swept from the room, closely followed by Sulpica, complaining about overprotective uncles.

* * *

 **Of course the song lyrics came from _Frozen,_ I thought this was something Aro might do at some point.**


	5. Chapter 5

**So onto Chapter 5, there should be more related to the actual story-line here so more serious for the next couple of chapters. I hope you still enjoy. Thank you for the positive response you have given me so far, it is really helpful to know I am going in the right direction with the stories.**

 **Just a clarification, none of the Volturi know what Harriet is the defeater of Voldermort... yet!**

 **Disclaimer- I do not own either Harry Potter nor Twilight**

* * *

Chapter 5:

Around three months into Harriet Potter's new life in Volterra, Sanguini finally managed to visit them. The Prince of the European Vampires had not been told why he had been summoned, just that he was required as soon as possible. So one fine day in August the newest secretary, Livia, entered the Throne Room to announce the presence of the Prince, he was immediately admitted and entered followed by his retinue of three advisors and guards.

As was his want, Sanguini immediately went up Caius and kissed him loudly on both cheeks, knowing it would provoke a reaction from the stoic man. It immediately did so and the younger immortal found himself hauled away by the scruff of his clothes as he, Aro and Marcus laughed loudly at the blonde king. Sanguini was not a young vampire, around five hundred years. Magical vampires were very different from muggle, one of the most obvious ways was that they could bare children naturally due to the magic that still flowed from their cores. Whilst they could still use magic, it was limited as they could not use wands, so they relied on wandless magic which took centuries to practice to a level where it could be used in combat effectively. Easy spells though like levitation or colour changing spells were easily learned through necessity. Sanguini was a tall man, over six foot, who looked to be in his early twenties, with long dark hair that was tied off his face.

"Well Aro, Caius, Marcus, why have you requested my presence, I am sure that you have great news, yes?"

Aro and Caius looked to Marcus, who raised an eyebrow at their pointed looks, before looking back to Sanguini. Obviously he had been nominated to explain their situation.

"See Sanguini, about three months Alec and Jane found someone being abused killed her family and, well, we sort of adopted her."

"Who or what is 'her'?"

"A little witch child, who was being abused for having magic. We wanted your advice on the happenings of the magical world so we can best teach her, she is only just seven."

At this Alcard, one of Sanguini's closest friends and guards broke in, "Let me get this straight, the kings of the muggle vampire world adopted a seven year old child?"

Caius felt the need to clarify, "A magical child"

There was silence for a moment before all the magical vampires burst into fits of laughter, how could they not? The three kings of Volterra were renowned for their ruthlessness. Now they were playing happy families with a child.

Sanguini asked through his laughter, "Who's the daddy?"

If Marcus could have blushed he would be as red as his cloak as the magical vampires laughed even harder.

"May we meet the girl?"

Marcus nodded to Retana who had been standing by the door. As she left the room to go and search out the girl and her caretakers, Marcus turned to the visitors, "Please be careful with her, she was horrifically abused and her confidence isn't great yet."

"Have no fear, old friend. We heed your words"

They did not have to wait long before there was a patter of footsteps on the stones down the corridor. The louder footsteps were echoed by the quieter strides of several vampires, no doubt feeling it was their duty to ensure the safety of their _piccolo principessa_. These thoughts of the Volturi kings were furthered proved when Demetri and Felix entered the room first, checking to see what and where people were in the space. Only after that was Harriet allowed into the room, spying her father she ran to him, not noticing the guests, who stared wide eyed as Marcus leaned down to pluck the tiny figure into his lap.

"Hello Daddy, Uncle Aro, Uncle Caius"

"How are you, sweetheart?"

"I am fine Daddy, Jane and Alec were just explaining the feudal system to me for history"

"Well done, Hattie. Now we have some people for you to meet. This is Sanguini, Alcard, Meprosis and Kynalo. Sanguini is the Prince of the magical vampire covens in Europe."

Harriet blushed, seeing the neglected visitors before scrambling of her father's lap and curtsying as Chelsea, Pica and Dora had taught her.

"It is very nice to meet you Your Highness, sirs."

Sanguini chuckled, "There is no need to stand on ceremony or use titles, I do not use them for your father and uncles as they are family and therefore so are you."

"Thank you Sir… sorry, Sanguini, erm...can...can I call you Uncle Sanguini then?"

"Of course little one. Now what is your name?"

"Oh, I am sorry, I am Harriet Lily Dorea Potter-Volturi"

Silence reigned and shock showed on the four faces of the magical vampires, whilst it appeared to Harriet to only last a few seconds and to not mean much, for the vampires it was clear that the name meant something to the magical vampires. Seeing this and very much wanting to discuss this reaction, Aro turned to Jane,

"Jane, would you like to take Hattie to Livia? I am sure that Hattie could do with a walk through the city and some lunch, sorry Hattie, as I have to talk to Uncle Sanguini we will have to delay our lesson this afternoon. You can have some fun in the city instead"

It was a show of how perceptive Harriet was that she looked sharply at her uncle figure, "Are you sure Uncle Aro?"

"Yes sweetheart, go have fun"

Sanguini decided to give his farewells too, "Princess, I will be back soon, it would be lovely to speak properly with you soon. I am sure that I will be needed at some point to supplement your education so I will come visit often."

Harriet looked excited at this and kissed her father on the cheek before waving to everyone as Jane led the little girl out to find the secretary. The twin returned as quick as she was able, closing the doors of the hall behind her. Inside all the guard stood, all concerned for the girl whom they had come to so adore.

"Obviously that name meant something to you, care to explain why you were so shocked to learn my daugher's name." If there had ever been any doubt as to why Marcus had become king, it was gone, the power he radiated was terrifying in its intensity.

"Marcus, calm down brother. It would not do to terrify them into not speaking. However, I feel we need an explanation"

Sanguini sighed, the shock had still not quite left him, however he started his explanations, "How much do you know of the Dark Lord Voldemort?"

"He was a blood supremacist who affected the British wizarding world for ten years or so until around six years ago, we do not know much more than that. Why?"

"Because your daughter defeated him…"

Sanguini was about to continue but was interrupted by various yells

"Please may I ask for no disruptions until after I have finished my explanation? As you know Voldemort had the support of many of the darker houses of Britain. His ethos was that so called 'muggleborns' were of a lower caste than purebloods due to the purity of their blood, he sought to remove them from 'stealing' the magic of the great families. Or at least that was one of his arguments, the truth is that the clarity of his code got so mired with propaganda on both sides that it is difficult to tell. However, there was a group formed under the leadership of Albus Dumbledore as a sort of guerrilla fighter team who tried to stop the Death Eaters (supporters of Voldemort), they were called the Order of the Phoenix. Harriet's parents joined as members almost immediately after leaving Hogwarts, James as an auror and Lily as a charms mistress. For whatever reason, Voldemort sought them dead, perhaps they had refused to join him too many times, for it is well known they were approached, or perhaps it was a show of power. However, just after Harriet was born, the family went into hiding, leaving Potter Manor and living in a cottage under the Fidealis Charm in Godric's Hollow. The Halloween following Harriet's first birthday they were finally caught, their Secret Keeper gave up the secret and Voldemort found them. He killed James first, then Lily before turning his wand on Harriet. For whatever reason, she survived the Killing Curse and Voldemort has been temporarily defeated, she is hailed at the 'Girl-Who-Lived' in Britain and they believe she defeated the Dark Lord for good, however this is not the case, for he still exists out there somewhere. If and when he does return he will try to kill Harriet for he is the reason for his previous destruction."

There had been growls throughout the story yet this last sentence caused a cacophony of curses, snarls and a couple of punches to the walls. This lasted a few minutes before Marcus turned to Sanguini.

"We thank you for this information, but now we need your advice. What does this mean, what can we do?"

Sanguini looked thoughtful, "There are certain things you need to be aware of before you can do anything. Firstly, Harriet is seen as an icon in Britain, they turned the destroyed cottage in Godric's Hollow into a sort of shrine to her, people will try to manipulate her and control her, they want her to marry her sons, and they want her to be the leader of the light. She will not have an easy time of it if she returns to England. Secondly, the man accused of betraying the Potters was James' best friend, Sirius Black, heir to House Black. Whilst the Black's have been traditionally dark, I do not believe Sirius to be dark, I have met him on several occasions and found him to be steadfast and true. He did not receive a trail before he was shipped off to Azkaban. Thirdly, many of those Death Eaters managed to escape punishment by claiming they were under the Imperius Curse, if Voldemort does again get a mortal body, support for him will not have waned, you must be aware of that."

Caius spoke this time, struggling to control his temper, "Again, thank you, I know we were behind with our information of the magical world in the last few decades but I had not realised the extent of our neglect."

"Have no fear Caius. As to my advice I would continue to raise Harriet as you appear to be doing so already but make her learn when to trust and when not, teach her politics and the social maneuvering that accompanies it. Second, approach the goblins, they still trust and respect you. I have no doubt they will help you, I suggest you make it a priority to get Sirius Black out of prison. For at the moment your main problem is that you are not her magical guardians, I believe Dumbledore is and I would not trust his eventual aims enough to allow him this much control over Harriet. As her godfather, if he was released, Sirius Black would become her magical guardian, with you as her mundane. Next week I will escort you to the goblins and we can see about hiring a lawyer, for it will be a long fight but a worthwhile one."

"As ever Sanguini, you are a voice of reason and we are very grateful for your sound advice. We will take you up on your offer but we must ask that you continue to visit, Hattie would be sad if her newest uncle didn't come around to help teach her and play with her."

"I would be honoured Marcus, but first we must heave our plans into action for much depends on the subtle path we will be forced to tread for justice and peace"

* * *

 **P.S. Sirius will be released from prison soon, can you imagine the trouble he and Aro could get up to! I was thinking of having Heidi as his mate, thoughts?**

 **I shall be putting a poll up in the next couple of days for who you would like to see Harriet mated too as it affects how the next couple of chapters go. It has been suggested that it should be a triad, I totally wouldn't mind that, I was going to have them meet young, partly because, hey, it would be funny to write? Can you imagine Caius reaction...?**


	6. Chapter 6

**Back again. Not very much about Harriet here so sorry about that... Please take the poll about who you would like to see Harriet paired with, as ever I will only take this into consideration as I do have a vague direction at the moment that the story is heading and while there is some leeway, I don't want to diverge too much.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own either Harry Potter or Twilight and am writing for fun.**

* * *

Chapter 6:

It had been a long time since Marcus had properly entered the magical world, around a century. Yet now he stood just by the entrance to the Forum Magicae, the square in Rome that had served as the centre for the magical community in the Italian peninsula since Roman times. Surrounded by the scattered fragments of the ruins of muggle Rome, the entrance to magical Rome could be found just by the Roman Forum. For Marcus, this visit was a huge change, he had not left the castle in Volterra for a century and before that he had only really left for occasional visits to the magical world and even rarer, to dispense justice to the occasional coven. He wasn't alone though as his brothers would not let him leave without two guards, so Felix stood on one side, and Chelsea on the other. Unlike many other times, the three were not covered by thick cloaks, instead they wore dress robes that were not obvious amongst the muggle tourists surrounding them. A simple charm on their Volturi pendants allowed them a day without having to worry about their sparkling skin problem.

Marcus was disturbed from his thoughts by a voice calling his name, shaking himself from his daze he turned and saw Sanguini and two of his guards approaching.

"Good day, Sanguini, how are you?"

"Very well, Marcus. I am afraid we must hurry if we are to get to Gringots before the morning rush. It is probably best we attract as little attention as possible."

"A good plan, we can talk more later."

So saying, both vampires and their guards approached the fountain that stood in the centre of the square. Without even stopping all six walked straight in and disappeared below the water line. The re-emerged into an even larger fountain, decorated with the ancient Roman gods, in the middle of a large colonnaded square, the Piazza Magicae. Even to his vampiric eye, very little had changed in the course of a century, this was one of the reasons why Marcus liked the magical world so much as in the muggle world was forever growing faster and noisier as technology advanced. At least the magical world's technological advancements were slow and generally limited to increases in speeds of their broomsticks.

Walking out of the fountain dry, the small group walked quickly down one of the wide paved streets. At the end in a huge classical building that resembled the Parthenon stood Gringots. Nearly every country relied on the goblins for finance and this was what gave them their strength, they had control and branches in so many areas of the world and from the sounds of it, the magical people, in particularly Britain, failed to see this and acknowledge the power that the small warrior race had. Gliding through into the portico of the building, Marcus nodded to the guards at the entrance, before walking into the enormous hall of the Gringots Rome Branch.

Looking around for a free teller, the group approached a booth at the far end and fisted their hands over their hearts before bowing slightly in acknowledgement to the goblin. Seeing this the goblin raised an eyebrow and then two as he identified some of the members of the group. Without saying a word the little creature hopped off his stool and inclined his head for the clutch of vampires to follow him down one of the corridors at the back of the atrium.

Once the teller had removed the group from the very public atrium he directed them into a receiving room,

"I am Colroc, and it is an honour to have both types of vampire royalty in Gringots once more. I take it this is not a social call, may I inquire as to the reason for your visit that I may find someone better suited to assist."

Marcus looked to Sanguini and gestured for him to speak, "Teller Colroc, we thank you for your welcome and assistance. We need the help of several goblins I am afraid, specifically the Account Managers for the Houses Black and Potter of England."

The only indication of surprise that Colroc gave was to raise a single eyebrow, "I shall inquire as to their status. Would you be content to wait here for now?"

Marcus answered this time, "Perfectly, thank you, we understand if they are not available and shall come back at their convenience."

The goblin left the room soon after that, leaving the vampires in the small room that only contained a few chairs and tables. Seeing they had a moment to themselves, Sanguini turned to Marcus,

"Soooo…how is your daughter?"

Marcus chuckled slightly at the question, "Harriet is fine, I believe at this moment, she should be having an etiquette lesson with Dora and Pica, I believe the class was going to be on letter writing."

"Does she have a lot of lessons then?"

"Yes, it was one of the conditions that we stipulated when she first was brought to Volterra, that she would be brought up and educated correctly. Whilst she does have quite a lot of time off, she loves learning too so I do not believe she sees it as too much of a hardship. You are going to have to come to call soon, she was asking about you and your type of vampires only last night"

Sanguini smirked, "I will come and visit soon…It will be fun persuading your daughter that I am a much better type of vampire."

Marcus only shook his head in amusement, although Felix and Chelsea were quite put out by the comment and decided to figure out ways to stop the magical vampires from stealing their _piccolo principessa_.

Sanguini not noticing this decided to continue, "She is a very sweet girl. Does her presence cause much conflict in the castle?"

Marcus laughed at this, "Conflict... the only thing that everyone now argues about is who gets to play with her, who gets to dress her, who gets to feed her. For god's sake, Caius learned to cook so he could have more time with her... My poor daughter has her clothes changed three times a day, just to stop various members of the coven from arguing too much... It was bedlam until we organised rotas for pretty much every aspect of her day, after all, someone will get upset if they don't get to read the bedtime story enough or something... We were once the kings of the vampires, however I feel that we are all supplicates at the throne of Harriet now. Honestly, she could ask Caius to kiss a werewolf and he would only complain for a few minutes before storming out to go find one. If Harriet wanted it, Heidi would dye her hair pink... You may laugh Sanguini, but it is utterly true..."

At this moment, Colroc re-entered the room and stared slightly at the prince of the European magical vampires who was lent back in his seat laughing at Marcus' words.

"Your highnesses, both the managers for Houses Black and Potter are available. I will take you to them, however, Leader Ragnok would like a meeting with you afterwards if you could spare the time?"

"We would be honoured to see Leader Ragnok, thank you Colroc."

One of the most amazing things about Gringots was that it was perfectly possible to enter a branch in America and leave in Japan, at least, it was possible if one was rich and important enough. And both the Volturi and Sanguini were important enough and so the six vampires entered in Gringots in Rome and after being taken through a few tunnels, found themselves in the offices of the English branch. Ushered into an office, Marcus thanked Colroc and turned to see two other goblins, standing behind a desk in the centre of the room.

Again greeting the new goblins with a fist clenched over their hearts and heads bowed, Sanguini and Marcus were offered seats as the two goblins introduced themselves.

"I am Bloodclaw, Manager to the Accounts of House Potter and this Gripspur, Manager of the Accounts of House Black. What may we help you with, Your Highness'?"

The truth be told, both goblins were rather confused by the requests and were more than a little intrigued when the message came through that Marcus and Sanguini were seeking an audience. The goblins had a long memory and lived longer than wizards, some could remember the time before the wizarding world forgot the muggle vampire whilst their history told of, particularly Marcus, who helped found Hogwarts.

Marcus decided to speak first, "What I am about to explain is a rather sensitive situation and I can understand if you cannot help us. We do not necessarily seek help but more advice and would be grateful for what you have to say."

Bloodclaw answered, "We cannot make any promises but we will listen"

"At the start of June, Alec and Jane went on a hunt and a magical child being abused for her accidental magic. After taking care of her guardians and taking her to the hospital, the twins returned with her to Volterra as Aro decided he was prepared, if Caius and myself agreed, to adopt her. We did so and raised her as best we could ever since. Naturally though, we asked Sanguini to come to visit in order to help explain the magical world to her as he is more up-to-date with it all. When he was introduced he recognised her name and recommended that we come to visit you for advice."

Here the goblins looked at each other as both realised what Marcus was implying, "What is her name, Your highness?" Bloodclaw asked, twirling his quill in his hands.

"Her full name now is Harriet Lily Dorea Potter-Volturi, it does not take a genius to realise what her original name was."

Gripspur huffed in amusement, "You mean to tell me that the Saviour of the Wizarding World is being taken care of by vampires?"

Sanguini butted in at this point, "Your reaction was as good as mine, apparently at the moment she is receiving etiquette lessons"

The two goblins looked at each other slightly maliciously, "The wizarding world won't know what hit them... How wonderful." The two then stood up quickly and strode towards the door, gesturing for the vampires to follow, "Come, I believe Ragnok would prefer to be involved in this discussion."

* * *

Perhaps in comparison to their apparent love of jewels and wealth, the leader of the Goblin Clans, Ragnok had a distinctly spartan office. It was large certainly, but lacked any ornamentation other than books and ledgers that appeared to cover every wall. Ragnok himself sat on a hard wooden chair and appeared utterly unfazed by the presence of the vampires and the sudden information concerning the Girl-Who-Lived.

"I thank you for telling me all this, she is too young to bare the expectations that her society had thrust upon her and deserves a childhood that I am sure you are giving her. The information about Sirius Black is troubling and you are right that the matter of magical guardians will cause you some problems if rectified." The old goblin thought for a moment, "As I see it, there are not many ways to get Black a trial without revealing your knowledge of the magical world and your guardianship of Potter. Therefore, I believe it will be best if you leave the trial to us. All it would take would be an anonymous note to certain reporters and they will not let the matter go until a trial is settled, after all there are plenty of reports of Sirius seen fighting the Death Eaters but never with them... We all need to be disconnected from this matter publicly, if Gringots were implicated it could be..."

Here Marcus interrupted, "You know Leader Ragnok, we would never ask you to risk your business. We are aware that if your role in the matter became public you would lose face here too."

"I thank you for your words. The relationship between our peoples has existed for centuries and we all appreciate it..." Ragnok was silent for a minute as he thought, "We shall approach the reporters and see whether we can drum up support. In any event, imagine what the public would say if the heir to a Most Ancient and Noble House failed to receive a trial, what chance would that give them if they were in similar positions?"

The six vampires and three goblins in the room all smirked at each other as they thought of how the public would react. It would not be pretty and the previous Minister for Magic, Bagnold should be glad that she retired three months ago, she would never have lasted if she was still in office when the news broke.

* * *

Marcus, with Sanguini beside him, was standing motionless as they both looked at what was once the throne room of the Kings of the Vampires. Right now however, it didn't look quite like normal and Marcus wrinkled his nose slightly in an unnecessary gesture as he tried to work out what had happened. To say the room was a mess was an understatement, because what it looked like was someone driving a truck full of different coloured paints had crashed, leaving the paint to go everywhere. Caius throne was covered with splodges of a rather lurid lime green, Aro's was on its side, whilst Marcus' own throne was polka dot blue and pink.

Hearing noise down the corridor, Marcus and a still speechless Sanguini turned to see Aro, Demetri, Heidi, Jane and Dora run in, themselves covered with paint and holding guns of some sort. Marcus decided to clear his throat at this point, to indicate to his brother and guard that they had come back and Sanguni was there too.

Hearing the sound Aro turned, "Marcus you are back, and Sanguini is here too, Hatty will be glad…"

Just as Aro was about to ramble on, Marcus interrupted "What in the seven hells is going on here, why is this place covered in paint and why are members of the guard arranging themselves in strategic positions in our throne room whilst holding guns?"

As Aro walked to position himself behind his overturned throne, he said, "Hattie saw an advert video of something called 'paintball', we are playing it now, it is my team against Caius. We are winning. If you don't want to get dirty, I suggest moving."

The advice came a little too late though as Caius, Alec, Pica, Afton and Retana bursted into the room and the shooting started once more.

Five minutes later, everyone was out of ammo and covered in paint, even the six who had arrived late. Somehow Sanguini and Felix had ended up with guns and put them to good use.

The former now turned to the rest of the room, "Well that was fun, and we should do that again sometime. However, I must ask, where Harriet is, I damn well hope you didn't let her play that."

"Don't worry Sanguini" Caius said, "We only brought the guns out after she went to bed. I do have a question though, how do I get this out of my hair, I really don't want blue hair for weeks on end?"

"Can I further Caius' question by asking, how are we going to get all the paint off, well everywhere? There is paint on the ceiling, paint on the throne, paint pretty much everywhere and I refuse to hold court in a multi-coloured room." Marcus announced.

There was a chorus of various 'shotgun not's' (although Aro decided that 'Bazooka not' would be just as effective).

* * *

 ** _Heir to Ancient and Noble House in Azkaban without trial_**

 _For most the story of Sirius Black is well known, the best friend who betrayed his best friend, James Potter, to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named before killing his former friend Peter Pettigew in a muggle street, resulting in the death of thirteen muggles. However, this reporter was tipped off that the Heir to House Black never received any sort of trial before his incarceration. Doubtful as I was I looked through all the trial transcripts after the fall of You-Know-Who and found no record of his trial or sentence._

 _However, what information I did find in the Ministry concerning the man confused and shocked this reporter. Instead of the picture of a dark and cruel man, I received the image of a man who was thrown out of his family for refusing to accept their beliefs and for being sorted into Gryffindor. He participated in many raids with the Aurors' against the supporters of You-Know-Who and was taken of active service for three months for jumping in-front of a cutting curse meant for his Auror partner, James Potter._

 _Another Ministry record is proof of the Godfather Bonding Ritual between Black and the Girl-Who-Lived, Harriet Lily Dorea Potter when she was only eight months. Whilst the exact level of bonding is unknown, these types of bonds tend to mean that the Godparent cannot harm the godchild in anyway. (They were originally used to stop a god parent receiving custody of a orphaned child and abusing them). Having asked several experts on magical bonds, none have been able to give me a straight answer as to how Black would have been able to avoid the ramifications of this broken magical contract and bond._

 _Whilst I do not believe the man to be innocent what does it say of the Ministry that they would be willing to throw a man in prison without a trial or sentence. This reported would rather like to know how the stories of Sirius Black alternate so much and what drove him to the actions that eventually resulted in the deaths of James and Lily Potter. At the very least, a trial would allow us to know how Black was able to circumvent the promises of the ritual so that this situation may be avoided again._

 _by Rita Skeeter_

As he read the morning paper, Ragnok smiled, if this didn't set the niffler among the gold, he didn't know what would. The article was almost perfect, it showed the different side to Sirius Black as well as gave a reason for the trial to happen, information. The goblin leader was certain that within a week the Ministry would have either organised a trial of their own volition for their own reasons or due to pressure from the public and international governments who would be sure to hang the British Ministry out to dry for their oversight.

* * *

 **Next chapter, Saguini comes to visit and the Volturi go on holiday... This new chapter should be up pretty soon hopefully so keep an eye out for it!**

 **Please comment and tell me what you think.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Two chapters at once? I know weird but still, as this chapter is more fluff I felt I couldn't post it on its own.**

* * *

Chapter 7:

It was not often that the entire guard would voluntarily meet without the presence of either the kings or more recently Harriet. Normally any such gatherings ended in an argument, particularly if, as happened around once every decade if someone was brave enough to suggest it, it was game night. After all, with vampire sight and sense of smell, a deck of cards could only be used once, moreover, there was a strong tendancy for someone to be accused of cheating or the like, and then Jane would spread some pain around. However, if anyone was looking for any member of the Volturi main guard tonight, they would have been found huddled in the kitchen used to cook for Harriet. Indeed, their discussion revolved, as was the case a lot recently, around Harriet.

"We need to do something." Chelsea started, "We cannot let them get their hands on our Harriet"

There was nodding and Demetri added, "We don't know what they would do to her, we have worked so hard and she has got so much better recently."

"By the gods, imagine what the kings and queens would do if she suddenly wasn't here anymore, I swear that Marcus has talked more in the last two months than he has in the last two centuries. " Heidi added

Again nods throughout the room.

"We need to ensure that there is a guard with Harry at all times, preferably more than one. We don't know what their strength is like when they are in numbers."

"That is true Alec…Right, when Hattie is in lessons, the person who takes the next lesson has to come to collect her. At night, one guards the door to her suite whilst another patrols the gardens, magic may allow them to fly in to kidnap her. We should be able to smell if her food has any potions or unknown substances in it so at least she should be safe in that respect. Is there anything we have forgotten?"

Felix answered Jane this time, "I don't think so… but do you think we should tell the kings?"

The members of the guard thought for a moment before Demetri answered, "No, I don't think so. The fewer people know that we are aware the better, less suspicious."

"I agree" Jane said, "Right, let's get to work, we shall work out guard rotas sooner the time when we know exact movements."

And do started the mission that would become known as 'Mission-Ensure-Harriet-Doesn't-Get-Kidnapped-By-Sanguini-and-his-cronies/friends'.

* * *

There were very few things that Harriet could ever complain about in regard to her life with the Volturi, particularly when she compared it with life at the Dursley's. After all, she received food three times a day, although sometimes the vampires tried to get her to eat more, apparently she was too thin. She slept in a beautiful room that Uncle Caius had decorated with murals of magical animals, her bed was vast, she could get lost in it, but it allowed for the best pillow forts a girl could imagine. She also got lessons in more subjects that she ever thought existed and whilst they were hard, they were always very interesting. Her extended vampire family loved her and gave her hugs whenever she desired them which again, Harriet rather enjoyed, and whilst they occasionally forgot their strength, it was never too major. There were some odd things, like Uncle Aro's love of Disney music, and whilst having new outfits every few hours was fun, it was a little irritating at times and Harriet did suppose it was a bit odd that her new family were vampires... But really, it was all rather lovely, especially when she got to meet new people like Uncle Sanguini who was coming to stay the following day.

Harriet sighed, her vampires had been a little weird recently… okay, weirder than normal. Really that was saying quite a lot, after all they had just instigated 'Paint-Ball Fridays' which normally meant that the entire castle inside had to be washed down the following day so that her Daddy and Uncles' could hold court. But at the moment she nearly always had a vampire with her which didn't normally happen.

The following day, Harriet sat waiting in the throne room for her Uncle Sanguini with her father and her other uncles. They did not have to wait long as soon Sanguini and his retinue entered the room, immediately the Vampire Prince approached Harriet.

"Hello, my _piccolo principessa_ , how are you this morning?" Neither Harriet nor Sanguini saw the way the Volturi guard stiffened and glared at the upstart prince who had declared their Harriet his and then happily accepted a hug from her.

"Hello Uncle Sanguini, I am very well thank you. Are you alright?"

"Indeed I am little one". This time neither Aro, Caius nor Marcus missed the reaction of their guard to the last words of Sanguini and the looked around at the rest of their coven with raised eyebrows. None of the guard met their kings' eyes as they were all focused on Sanguini who was holding Harriet now.

The entirety of the visit seemed to end up a game of tug-o-war between the two different types of vampires. It was obvious that the members of Sanguini's guard were just as taken with Harriet as the Volturi guard and they delighted in showing her magic and teaching her a little of her own. (Although the Volturi were quite grateful when she was taught how to wandlessly summon fire, it would be a good deterrent should she ever be attacked...Not that she ever would though). In response to their attempts at bribery through magic to get some of Harriet's time, the Volturi guard tried their best to distract Harriet with even more interesting lessons and trips into Italy, at one point they went so far as to hire a helicopter so that Harriet could fly over to Greece with Aro and Caius to see the sites of the battles of Troy and ancient Greece.

The magical vampires then retaliated by spelling Harriet so that she could not be smelt by any vampire for three hours, they also placed a spell on her so that any noise that she made would be muffled to vampiric ears. Thus started a game of Hide and Seek throughout the entire castle between the human and the magical vampires. Despite huffing over the fact they weren't quite sure how to top this, the Volturi joined in too, everyone spelled so that scent could not be used to find people. It was rather amusing to all involved that the game ended with Harriet not being found, eventually they had to call her out, whereupon they found the small girl climbing down from inside a chimney-piece, apparently she had climbed up the fireplace and was sitting on a small ledge within. She was promptly whisked away by Sulpica and Heidi for she was covered with soot from head to toe.

Meanwhile, Marcus sat back, utterly amused by the events. After all, he was certain of his place as Harriet's father and so every night he would read her a bedtime story to send her off to sleep. He was greateful though, the more allies and friends Harriet gained the better. She would need them before too long.

* * *

"I am a genius" Sanguini announced as he strolled into the Volturi's entertainment room after his brief trip back home to France for a meeting.

"And oh so modest" Dora snarked back.

Sanguini snorted, "I am not going to answer that but I will remind you of who you are married to… Anyway, back on track. I was wondering through Paris when I remembered something I keep on seeing advertised and hearing about… Disneyland… I thought we could all go on a mini holiday"

Sanguini's revelation was met with confusion on the part of all the vampires, Caius had to ask, "And pray tell, what is this 'Disneyland'?"

"Well, you know the Disney films for children…"

Here Sulpica interrupted, "and for Aro, he loves them even more than Hattie"

Sanguini ploughed on, "Disneyland is a funpark for Disney. So there are rides, games and hotels, all themed towards aspects of Disney. For instance, in the grounds people dress up as characters from the film etcetera etcetera. I think it is one of those things, it is easier to see than explain but I thought that we should all take Harriet there for a holiday…?"

"YES, YES, YES… a place where people dress up as Elsa and Belle and Cinderella, we are so going…"

Everyone looked at Aro rather strangely at his outburst before Pica said, "I don't know what to be more worried about, Aro wanting to go to this Disneyland place or Aro wanting to see Disney princesses… why did I marry him?"

There were some snorts of laughter at Pica's last words as it had crossed nearly everyone's minds before as to why Sulpica, who was the perfect lady and always controlled and well behaved, married Aro… a child stuck in a man's body.

Dora turned to Marcus, "As her father, I believe you have final say Marcus?"

Marcus thought for a second, "We can go" Seeing Aro about to run out of the room, he continued rather sternly, "ON THE CONDITION that I get to tell my daughter!"

Aro sulked at that, showing Marcus that he was right in his assumption that his brother had been about to run up to go and tell Harriet about the trip. As Marcus was leaving the room he heard his brother ask, "Does this mean that we can all dress up as Disney characters? I bazooka being Prince Charming from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves!"

Aro's idea was met by groans thoughout the room, however the hyper king rallied his efforts and attempted to assign different characters to different people. He was mostly ignored until he suggested that Caius should be the Beast as he was grumpy to everyone and only happy when kissed... Naturally, another fight broke out between the brothers whilst the other members of the coven crowded around a computer screen looking at photos of this 'Disneyland'.

* * *

And so the day came for the Volturi to leave for a weekend trip to Disneyland. Each vampire was kitted out with a spelled pendent to stop them glittering as well as a mild Notice-Me-Not Charm, for as Sanguini said, twenty really rather beautiful people parading though the park was likely to attract attention. Despite the whole endeavor being a rather good idea, Sanguini now agreed with most members of the Volturi who appeared torn between crying and attacking him when he entered the castle, apparently Aro had been hyper for a week and had essentially planned out his entire visit, from which rides he wanted to ride, to which characters he wanted to see, to what souvenirs he wanted. He had gone so far as to have the secretary, Livia prepare an information folder and maps so that he could get as much done as possible. Okay, Sanguini totally agreed now, he was never ever ever, going to tell Aro about Disney World Florida now. He valued his sanity too much for that trip thank you very much.

The two children, i.e. Harriet and Aro, were bouncing as they walked through the entrance, they had paid a rather large sum of money to ensure the best rooms, not that any of them apart from Harriet needed them and so they could skip the queues of the rides. Whilst they could easily find Harriet if she were separated or lost, all the vampires were keeping a close eye on their human. After all, none of them were quite sure how she would react in such a large crowd, for whilst she had been outside in Volterra, that was always during quiet times. But she seemed to be coping fine, not least because Aro wasn't exactly allowing her to be upset, he seemed content on dragging her to something called 'Splash Mountain'.

Watching the people around the park, the Volturi became even more aware of how lucky they were to have Harriet. She was well behaved and not at all like those irritating, pesky so-and-so's who were winging at their parents to get food, toys or rides. How atrocious? Although, Marcus did ruminate that Aro was sort of like the Volturi's bratty child, after all he was at present sulking because everyone had declared that they should go back to the hotel as it was getting rather hot for Harriet to be out for too long.

The final night of the Volturi's trip to Disneyland saw the guard and kings sitting in the communal sitting room of their suite watching Harriet eating her supper. Lying around the room were various bags emblazoned with Disney symbols as particularly Aro had seemed intent on emptying the entire store, why ever he thought he would ever need eighteen sunhats in various colours was unknown. They had also taken as many photos as possible, realising that they had very few of the Volturi all together as well as Harriet. Aro had attempted to get a photo with every Disney character (and failed), he was apparently going to make a scrapbook for some off reason... Despite being vampires most would admit that they were tired, being surrounded by people, dealing with Aro, the excitement etc. had all left them rather lethargic. And so a slight peace had settled in the room as more than one considered the changes that had occurred in the decision to adopt the abused little witch.

This subtle harmony was broken rather spectacularly when Aro, who had been reading a magazine of some sort announced, "Oh, oh, oh… look! There is a Disney Cruise…"

There were near unanimous shouts of 'no' ranging from Caius shout of "dear god no" to Heidi's pleads of "please, no, please…." Aro just pouted…and decided to persuade Harriet to ask to go on the cruise. After all if she asked no-one would refuse her.

* * *

 **Please tell me what you think, I know it wasn't really related to the story but really I just couldn't resist the idea of the Volturi visiting Disneyland. Next chapter will be more concerned with Sirius.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you for all the lovely reviews I have recieved, it is always a pleasure to know people like a story so keep any thoughts and criticisms coming. We are onto chapter 8, which I wasn't expecting to ever happen so I am just going to answer some of the questions I have recieved**

 **1)'Who would you picture her as?' This one is slightly difficult to answer as she is seven at the moment, I am ultimately imagining her to end up like Katie McGrath (Morgana from the BBC's** ** _Merlin)._**

 **2) The Cullens will be visiting in a couple of chapters time so don't worry. Whether it is all of them or only some of them depends on I eventually decide the pairings will be but as Sirius should (hopefully) be free soon I didn't want to have too many visitors at once, we need time for Aro and Sirius' craziness.**

 **3)Remus will be brought in later, I am not quite sure how to resolve the whole werewolf thing but he will feature**

 **4) Aro is going to find out about Disney World eventually but I won't say how yet**

 **The top three in the poll at the moment are Jasper, Seth and Garrett, please go and have your say. It looks like it will be a triad at least, soon we shall meet a mate. Overprotective vamps all the way!**

 **Onwards and upwards we go...**

* * *

Sitting in his office, the newly appointed Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge didn't know whether to laugh or cry. His predecessor, Bagnold, had been voted out, the public feeling that she epitomised the post war times, they wanted someone new and young so they choose himself. His campaign had been heavily backed by the likes of Lord Malfoy and he tried to depict himself as the leader of a new time for the country. And it had worked, however the actions of Bagnold were coming back to haunt him.

When the story had first broke about Sirius Black not receiving a trial there had been outrage, it didn't matter that Black was obviously guilty, all that mattered was the lack of the trial. And while Fudge couldn't see why it mattered, he wanted to be the 'man of the people' who would correct the mistakes of the previous government. The whole Black problem was perfect for this, the man would be brought from Azkaban, fed some Veritasereum in front of the whole Wizengamot and a large delegation of press. After the trial was had then Black would simply be sent back to prison, the Ministry corrects their oversight and everyone is happy. Simple.

* * *

Meanwhile in Volterra, Marcus and his brothers read the English wizarding paper, the headline of which proclaimed to all and sundry that Cornelius Fudge had declared that the mass murderer, Sirius Black was receiving a trial and receiving a sentence for his actions.

Caius smirked, "You know brothers, we haven't been to England in a while… And what better time to go? After all can you honestly say that you don't want to see the reactions of everyone when Black declares under the influence of truth serum that he is innocent of all charges?"

"You are utterly correct brother" Marcus said, "Shall I go and phone Sanguini to ask him to find us some disguises for we cannot play our hand to soon by revealing our presence?"

Receiving nods from his brothers, Marcus left the room to go to his office. He was perfectly content with the ways things were going at the moment, Black would stand trial and likely be found innocent, after which he could be brought back to Italy. Whilst it would be difficult having another human to stay, it would be worth it in the long term as Black could teach his goddaughter her duties as an heiress in the wizarding world, the very fact that he was chosen to be Godfather to Harriet employed that he was a steady sort who would be a positive and responsible person to have in his daughter's life. The need to free the man had also forced to Volturi to reconnect with the goblins, a relationship that had faded until recently. Picking up the phone that sat in his office, the vampire King dialed in Sanguini's number and waited for him to pick up.

"Hello"

"Good morning Sanguini"

"Marcus, I was wondering when I would hear from you, I take it you have read the papers?"

"Just so, I have a favour to ask though"

"By any chance does this favour involve finding a way for you to be there for the trial?"

"You know us to well… So is there?"

Sanguini snorted at this, "I have known you for half a millennium, I would be worried if I didn't know you well. As to the latter question, there is a way and I shall of course accompany you. It has been far too long without seeing the venerable Wizengamot utterly humiliated and disgraced, there is always something so fun to seeing those ridiculous wizards proved wrong."

"Thank you, on a totally different subject, I feel that it is my responsibility to ask whether you have recovered from our sojourn to Disneyland yet, after all it was my brother who meant that recovery was necessary?"

Sanguini's response was a painful groan, "Never, ever, ever again will I ever suggest something like that. As I am your friend though I feel the need to warn you that there is an even bigger Disney theme park called Disney World, apparently it is the size of a small city…. I promise not to tell Aro if you don't!"

"I promise, never again. Harriet was fine, she was perfectly behaved, my brother who is over two thousand years old…not so much. I already know he is trying to influence Harriet to ask to go on a Disney Cruise, knowing we would agree if she asked. What Aro doesn't know is that Caius has bribed her with a trip to Iceland if she doesn't ask."  
Sanguini laughed at this, "I find myself amazed that girl is not an utter brat yet. My guard have already asked when we can go back to visit her. Ridiculous that a seven year old girl could manage to have the vampire royalty twirled round her perfectly tiny little finger. My father was asking to meet her by her way."

That slightly surprised Marcus, Drakul didn't leave his palace at all, at over a thousand years old he never traveled out, leaving Sanguini to act as ambassador in his stead.

"We shall have to organise something, Harriet needs to meet new people. I feel at the moment she is going to end up unable to communicate with others if we continue to keep her so isolated. If she were to meet your father it would be helpful. After all the Cullen coven will soon be coming for their annual visit and she will have to meet them too."

Sanguini was delighted, "I will tell him, truly I think he was intrigued by the guards descriptions and was bored so decided to demand a visit."

* * *

The day of the trial dawned bright and the part of eight vampires, including the three Volturi Kings, Sanguini and four guards, entered the Rome Gringots and exited once more in the London branch. Wearing heavily spelled cloaks that made them appear human, they all made their way out of Gringots and walked quickly to the Ministry of Magic. Walking inside they became aware of the hoards of people in the Atrium. Luckily through Sanguini's connections the group had been guaranteed seats in the courtroom. If they hadn't they would have been forced to make do with a audio connection that broadcast the trial by radio out into the Atrium of the Ministry. The trial was big for several reasons, the first being the international pressure that the British Ministry was being subject to, secondly there was the fact that Black was accused of being the right hand man to Voldemort and thirdly of course was his involvement with the Potter tragedy.

The courtroom itself was manic, the Ministry had placed extra chairs out to house the press who had been invited to see the trial and there was barely any extra space in the room to move around. Aro sniggered, imagining the reaction when answers were given. After a further twenty minutes order was settled in the room and the prisoner was led in. He looked awful, wearing prison robes, his hair was matted and his face gaunt, but his eyes, his eyes knew what could potentially happen.

The Minister started to pontificate, rambling on "We are here today to rectify an oversight from the post war government. Unfortunately mistakes were made and it is important that we sort them out. Nobody should be put in prison without fair trial and this trial exemplifies our desire for this. Sirius Orion Black, you are charged with acts and plans of terrorism, for betraying the Potter family to their deaths, murdering Peter Pettigrew and murdering thirteen other juggles. How do you plead?"

The scratchy voice of Black emanated throughout the room but heard by everyone, "Not guilty".

Ignoring the boos that emanated around the room directed at Black, Minister Fudge ordered the prisoner placed in the chair and the potion administered. When he was sat, chains wound themselves around the too thin body and one of the Auror's approached with the vial of clear liquid. Roughly forcing the compliment mouth of Black open, three drops were dropped into it. Once the eyes blinked, glazing over and unfocused the Auror nodded to the Minister.

"Before we question the accused we must ask the security questions to determine that the Serum is working. Sirius Black, what is your full name?"

"Sirius Orion Black"

"What is your date of birth?"

"3rd November 1969"

"What do you work as?"

"Currently unemployed, previously an Auror"

"Veritaserum is working, we shall start the questioning now. Sirius Black, did you betray the Potters to the Dark Lord?"

"No"

With that small one little word, chaos reigned throughout the court too. It took the Minister a few shouts to regain control once more. The small group of disguised vampires leaned forward smirking at the reaction knowing that their machinations were working. Once silence had returned Fudge continued although it was obvious he was slightly confused.

"Please can you explain that statement Mr Black"

"I wasn't Secret Keeper, I was supposed to be but told James and Lily I was too obvious so I recommended they choose Peter Pettigrew instead, I was a decoy."

There was silence throughout the court, of everything Black could have said under the effects of the potion this was what they least expected. A sound started as a murmur but slowly grew in volume until it was a dull roar we the members of the Wizengamot grew more and more angry whilst the reporters grew more and more frantic in their efforts to document the discovery. It took a Sonorus charm and several Aurors' to regain control once more. Fudge was frantically thinking how to continue the questioning, after all at least one of the charges was now irrelevant.

He decided to continue though, ignoring the increasingly restless crowd behind him, after all, Black had been found innocent of only one charge. "Black, describe to us the events of the Halloween night?"

"Felt my Godfather bond with Harriet flare so flew on motorcycle to Godric's Hollow. Found James dead on the staircase. Lily dead in the bedroom trying to hide Harriet. Harriet was in her cradle crying, blood on her face. Took Harriet outside. Stopped by Rebeus Hagrid. Told me to give Pup to him to take to Dumbledore. Refused at first but gave him bike and Pup. Went to hunt the rat."

Silence once more spread through the crowded court. Taking a deep breath Fudge asked, "Sirius Black, have you ever supported You-Know-Who or his values?"

Even throughout the haze of the serum, Black managed to sound horrified, "Never, Voldermort's values were cruel and awful."

With their vampiric hearing, the Volturi and Sanguini could all hear Minister Fudge swallowing as he obviously began to realise the extent of the mistake caused by Black not receiving a trial. It was also clear that the sycophantic moron would try to pin anything on Black to send him back to prison to hide the mistake, despite the fact that it was obviously too late.

"Sirius Black, did you not kill Peter Pettigrew and thirteen other muggles the following day?"

"No"

Here, Caius could not stifle a small snort as he whispered to Aro, Marcus and Sanguini, "That moron is making himself looking like an even bigger fool the longer this trial lasts"

Nodding in agreement, they all looked over to see Fudge ask in a rather high pitched voice, "Explain that answer Black."

"Went to hunt the traitor" Black started, "Found him in a public place, he declared me the Secret Keeper. Used a blasting curse onto a gas mainline in street. He is a illegal rat Animagus. He cut off his finger and transformed, ran into a drain"

"So you believe that Peter Pettigrew is still alive?"

"Yes, bond with Harriet wants me to hunt him down for betraying her."

Knowing that it was required, Fudge asked, "What type of Godfather Bond did you enter?"

"Promised to protect and care for Harriet. She is also my heir until I have a child."

This surprised nearly everyone in the room, but the vampires most of all, who whilst they could see the benefit that this title afforded in terms of layers of protection, they could also see the threat and target that it would paint on the back of Harriet's back. That was if they could ever get close enough Marcus mused, after all his poor daughter was barely allowed to sleep without a guard or two standing as sentinels outside the door.

Meanwhile, Fudge was sitting trying to process the information that had just come from Black. He was utterly innocent and had yet spent six years in prison. If he wasn't in public, the Minister would have thrown his head into his hands, the trial was supposed to be a show of the British Wizarding communities desire to conclude the violence and times of the War. Instead, it had just been proven, in front of around fifty members of press, that they had imprisoned and basically tortured Lord Black for no reason. It was time to right the wrong, not that it would ever be forgotten, there was a very good reason why the Black's were feared, few would go against them before the war. Now they had a very clearly light Lord whose Heir was none other than the Girl-Who-Lived, Sirius Black was now pretty much untouchable and could end his career easier than Lord Malfoy had made it.

"Members of the Wizengamot, you have heard the testimonies under Veritaserum. I now call for a vote, would those who find Sirius Orion Black innocent of the charges of murder and terrorism please raise their wands."

From their seats, the vampires could see the sea of lights emanating from wands that signaled the freedom of Sirius Black. However, they also noticed who did not vote, vowing to keep an eye on them, after all Lucius Malfoy was a dangerous man and had a vendetta against Sirius, even more so now that his son, Draco wasn't likely to become Lord Black. From what Gripspur, the Account Manager of Black said, the Malfoy's power came from their money, this made them dangerous, particularly as they had not made their political and social ambitions particularly obvious since the fall of their last master.

"Would those who find Sirius Orion Black guilty please raise their wands?" Fudge's voice rang out throughout the chamber but the result was obvious and no one raised their wands, several abstaining from the vote.

"Then the Wizengamot finds Sirius Orion Black innocent of all charges" The Minister now addressed the newly free Sirius Black who was having the antidote to the Veritaserum administered, "For failing to give a trial before your incarceration and for imprisoning you falsely, the Ministry will give you six million galleons, a million for every year in Azkaban. Case closed."

With that chaos reigned as reporters shouted out questions and members of the Wizengamot cheered as did people in the gallery. Nodding to the Volturi vampires that the next stage in their plans had been taken care off. Looking back to the lone figure of Sirius Black who was now rising from the chair as the chains loosened. The poor man was obviously deeply confused by the sound and sight and looking for a vaguely recognisable and friendly friend, a few seconds later however he saw Gripspur smirking slightly as he walked forward. Recognising the goblin, Black approached and after exchanging a few words, Black and the Account Manager were surrounded by armed goblins who cleared a path for the man to escape the bedlam of the courtroom.

Looking back to Sanguini, the Volturi raised their eyebrows, the vampire prince sighed, "There is no need to be so suspicious my friends. We shall meet them at Gringots but I wanted there to be no chance of Sirius being... intercepted by... unnecessary people." With that Sanguini inclined his head back down to the crush in the bottom of the court and to the figure of Albus Dumbledore, ever obvious in his rather lurid green robes. The old man had spent much of the trial mouth open, staring at shock from his position as Chief Warlock, which was more of a ceremonial place now, despite Dumbledore's attempts to have more of a say in the court.

Looking down with a frown on his face, Caius asked, "What is his state of play? I mean, what does he stand to gain through all this, he was a friend of the Potter's I know but... I understand he is or was the magical guardian of Harriet but I don't understand why and how he has that power"

Sighing Sanguini answered, "That is a long story and one that is better spoken of at another time. But at the moment I feel we should go save the goblins from the Black wrath, if I know Sirius, he will be demanding to be taken to Harriet. By the time we get to Gringots I bet it will have progressed to threats...the Black's have the best threats too so I don't particularly want to miss that. Come on." With that the vampire prince started to walk out towards the Atrium of the Ministry where there were still cries of anger over the treatment of Sirius and cheers at the victory of justice.

* * *

"Damn you were right, Sanguini!" Caius said as they were lead through the Gringots tunnels.

Up ahead they could all hear, even without their vampire hearing the raised voice of one Sirius Black. "If you do not tell me where my pup is right damn now I will give you a reason to start another Goblin War. Where the damn hell is Harriet Potter?" Obviously at this point Sirius was denied this information as the next words out of his mouth was a series of rather lengthy curses followed by, "I don't know whether you have ever seen first hand why the Black family is feared so well, two words and I will curse you so your skin turns inside out. Now tell me what I want to know you tiny little..."

At this point Sanguini decided to enter the room, leaving the others outside to prevent Sirius becoming dragon food before he had even had the chance to meet Harriet. "Lord Black, please calm down."

Hearing the voice of his old friend, Sirius turned, "Sanguini, how the hell are you? And if you ever call me 'Lord' anything again I will publish a book of all your best secrets, I am sure your people would love to hear about the incident with the asparagus, the pig and the red paint. Wouldn't you? Now keep quiet, I have need of information and Gripspur is going to give it to me in 10...9...8..."

Sanguini interrupted again, "You are way too dramatic, and if you tell anyone that story I will use you as a juice box for the next decade. Now, the information that you want, I can give to you"

"6...5...4... Wait... You know where my pup is?"

"Yes"

"Where is she Sanguini?"

"I will not tell you until you meet with a healer and I introduce you to some friends"

Sirius blinked, "I hate you"

"Love you too, now what do you say?"

"How do you know where she is?"

"I refuse to answer any questions until you see a healer" Seeing Sirius' rebellious expression, Sanguini sighed, "Look, you don't even need to leave Gringots, I am sure a goblin healer can be found, then you can learn everything."

"...Fine, but if anyone gives me a sleeping draught of anything similar I will not be happy."

"Fine, no sleeping draught. However, I must say that I can not speak for her guardians and they may have conditions before you see her. Understand?"

Sirius sullenly agreed and was led out a side door by Gripspur to find a healer. Meanwhile, the other vampires slipped inside the office and looked at Sanguini like he was crazy.

Caius started, "I feel I want to know the story about the asparagus, the pig and the paint, I don't know about everyone else but what the hell happened?"

"That is a story between Sirius, myself and the pig" Sanguini sniffed

"I thought godparents were supposed to be responsible people?" Marcus asked, "Because he seems crazy"

The vampire prince snorted, "He is a Black, the line between crazy and sane is as blurred as Aro's. Azkaban hasn't helped though..."

There was silence for a moment as the vampires all tried to process their impression of Sirius Black. Then Aro thought of something, "Who has to explain to Sirius what we are and what state we found Harriet?"

There was a resounding chorus of 'shotgun not' and of course one 'bazooka not' before Sanguini sighed and volunteered.

* * *

Needless to say this meeting two hours later was filled with shouting galore, three broken chairs, one broken table, a hole in the wall and three broken fingers, all courtesy of the wrath of Sirius Black. At one point the man had to be held in a chair by Felix and Afton to stop him running out to go tear Dumbledore a new one.

* * *

 ** _Black proven not guilty under Veritaserum_**

 _Entering the Wizengmot Courtroom this morning there were likely very few who ever expected the trial of Sirius Black to be anything but a formality. Instead what occurred was the display of one of the greatest miscarriages of justice in Britain's recent wizarding history._

 _This reporter was almost in tears by the end of the trial as it was proven that Sirius Black was never the Secret Keeper (more on p.3 on Secret Keepers) and that he never killed Peter Pettigrew or any muggles. To know that the man was framed by his best friend was heartbreaking and I am only glad that an anonymous tip-off led this reporter to examine the facts of Sirius Black's trial._

 _(Full transcript of the trial, p.2)_

 _What does this mean for Britain? The obvious outcome of this trial should be a review of all cases in Azkaban, if the Ministry had thrown someone unjustly in prison, what is to say there are not others. I call therefore for the new Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Amelia Bones, to review all cases in Azkaban lest there be other miscarriages of justice caused by our desire to see a quick and effective end to the wizarding war._

 _I can only hope that Sirius Black will eventually recover from his incarceration in Azkaban and return to claim his seats as Lord Black on the Wizengamot. I for one also desperately hope the man will be allowed to raise his goddaughter, Harriet Potter, for it is obvious that the stresses of the bond have greatly impacted the poor man. It would be a lovely sight to see the pair of them in the wizarding world once more and I anticipate that they will both receive a warm warm welcome by all._

 _By Rita Skeeter_

* * *

 **Hope you enjoyed this chapter, there will be more Volturi shenanigans next chapter. Please vote in the poll, it won't be up for much longer remember!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Little recap: Sirius has just been released from prison and has met the Volturi, he has yet to meet Hattie again.**

 **Disclaimer- I own neither Harry Potter nor Twilight and I am writing for fun.**

* * *

Chapter 9

To say that Sirius Black was excited was an understatement. He could barely sit down, let alone be quiet, it had got to the point that even Sanguini was about to curse the wizard. Really, it was okay to be excited for five minutes, not five hours… Five hours of no stop babbling and inane talking was unacceptable and Sanguini almost tempted to force him into his animagus form so he didn't have to listen to his voice. All the other vampires had jumped ship to another car, having decided that even half an hour in the presence of an excited Sirius was enough, mind you Aro seemed to rather like the borderline insane wizard…which wasn't going to end well and that was if they were lucky. At worst, a new World War may start…that would put a small, slight downer on their plans though so it was probably best to limit the contact between Aro and Sirius, just in case.

Driving down the tunnel into the Volterra Castle garage, Sanguini was more than a little relieved, whoever decided driving from the Rome Gringott's to Volterra was a good idea was going to be dismembered, or at least have their time with Hattie limited, that was essentially the worst punishment he could think of at the moment. Maybe he should threaten Sirius with that punishment he thought as he grabbed a hold of the wizard to stop him throwing open the car door and sprinting to find his 'pup'.

"Brilliant idea Sirius, let's run into the vampires' lair with the sole intention of finding their precious human. That would end wonderfully…"

"Sanguini, sarcasm doesn't suit you. Now take me to my goddaughter or so help me I will crack out the photos…"

"There is no need for those Sirius, would you like to follow me?" Sanguini was more than a little nervous at Sirius' threat, after all they had spent two weeks in Vegas and the only memories that they could remember coherently came after examining a series of moving photos found in their hotel room…Sanguini had thought they had been destroyed but he wouldn't have put it past a Black to keep them for blackmail purposes.

"Damn well I will follow you." So saying Sirius clambered out of the door and waited for Sanguini's elegant decent from the car. The two men walked through the halls, a little ahead of them walked the Volturi vampires who were rather obviously a little stressed about the upcoming conversation. Climbing up the floors to the top floor, the group stood in front of a thick set of double doors that could be opened by a five digit code. Marcus entered the code, not allowing Sirius or the magical vampires to see the numbers he entered…not that it would have stopped them for very long.

Opening the doors, the group entered a spacious entrance hall painted with gentle pastel colours, off this hall led six doors. Marcus led the way towards one of the closed doors, obviously hearing the sounds of life behind it, by this point Sirius was all but vibrating with excitement, he looked rather like Aro did when he saw the Teacup ride at Disney Land. Opening the door Marcus gestured the others into the room before him. Walking into the room Sirius found himself in a circular room that was obviously part of a tower, it was filled with large sofas and chairs which were now being filled with various members of the vampire coven. Sanguini pushed the wizard into a comfortable sofa and gave him a look that promised retribution if he did not behave. Seeing Sirius suitably cowed, the vampire prince threw himself into a sofa, toeing off his shoes he threw his legs up onto the table in front of him.

Taking a longer look around the room, Sirius noticed a small door that Marcus had obviously just disappeared through, likely to fetch his adopted daughter. The vampires had already explained the bond between the vampire king and his goddaughter and whilst he was upset, he was not angry as he knew that Hattie was benefitting from the relationship. Apart from anything else, the poor child probably desperately needed some sort of love in her life after her treatment at the hands of the damn Dursley's. Sirius had never considered dark magic but when he had heard of the state of his precious pup, he had almost been tempted to try his hand at necromancy so he could raise the Dursley's from the dead so that he could torture them a small, incy wincy bit.

Looking up from his dark thoughts and promises of revenge, Sirius was slightly startled to see Marcus had returned and holding his hand was a tiny figure. A tiny figure with a dark mop of hair that swirled down to her hips, a tiny figure with eyes that would put the emeralds his mother so favoured to shame. Sirius almost sobbed seeing the proof of his goddaughter's safety and health, the godfather bond which had tortured him worse than the dementor's ever could finally started to repair itself and the tugging in his chest stopped. The only part of it that remained was the part that was trying to force him to hunt down Pettigrew and a minute thread towards what Sirius supposed was the weakened Voldermort.

Meanwhile, Harriet had been about to go and greet everyone in the room with her usual hugs and kisses when she noticed a strange man sitting in the room. He was thin and gaunt and his hair was in desperate need of a cut, but Hattie felt the need to run over to him, to hug him and trust him. Trusting her instincts, she ran over to the man and threw herself into his lap, throwing her small arms over his shoulders.

Sirius had been so lost in thought that it was not until he felt someone barrel into his lap, the slight weight startled him back into reality. He looked down to see the dark haired figure and, realising who it was, pulled her even closer. Eventually the two of them pulled apart slightly as Harriet drew back to look him in the face. Sirius looked upon her like a thirsty man seeing a water, drinking in her visage.

The first word that he heard his pup say in six years, since her first birthday, was a mumbled "Godfather" as the bond between them grew stronger and stronger and identified the relationship between them to the girl. Sirius only response was to pull the girl back to his chest as tears of relief and joy ran down his cheeks and into her dark hair as he peppered kisses into her raven locks.

Standing to the side, Marcus smiled to see the two reunited. It was obvious that Hattie did not remember Sirius but the magical bond between them encouraged her to trust him. Whist his own bond to Harriet was a clear strong green in his bond sight, the wizard's bond to the girl was a lighter green, signifying a sort of paternal figure, but it was wrapped with a silver, signifying the magical vows Sirius had made to protect the girl. Looking upon Sirius with his bond sight, the vampire king was saddened to see the effects of Azkaban and the dementors on him, nearly all of his bonds were dead or broken. At the moment the only ones that he held were to Sanguini and obviously Harriet. Hopefully with time the man would be able to recover some of those original bonds and forge some new ones, he himself would be glad to call the wizard a friend, after all he had remained loyal to his daughter through years of torture.

Finally releasing Harriet, Sirius decided to introduce himself, "Hello, Hattie. I am Sirius Black, your godfather and I am more than glad to meet you again."

"Can I call you Uncle Siri?"

Sirius laughed, "I would love that"

"Okay…Are you hungry, Heidi went to make me some tea, would you like some too?"

"Yes please, I am a little hungry."

"Okay, I shall go tell her" So saying the small girl climbed off his lap and skipped towards the door she had entered.

Turning to the vampire royalty, Sirius asked, "Have you tested her for any magical abilities?"

"No why?" Caius asked, a little worried that something may be wrong with his precious niece.

Scratching his chin as he leaned back in the chair Sirius said, "I am not very magically sensitive but there is something...as you know some witches and wizards can have extra abilities, one of my cousins is apparently a Metamorph. But anyway, Hattie seems to be aware although that is probably the wrong word. I just remember hearing stories when I was younger about people who were sensitive to people's emotions or needs. Either it was just luck or Harriet may have an ability similar, does she often seemed attuned to people's needs and wants?"

Thinking about it, all the vampires in the room could agree that sometimes their human just knew, whether this be when someone was thirsty, lonely or sad, she just knew. Pica who had entered the room at some point was confused, "What does this mean for her?"

Looking at Marcus, Sirius sighed, "I don't know, sometimes it can be to do with a creature inheritance, sometimes with just an overly large magical core and sometimes it is just luck and chance. I believe though that it is important to have Hattie tested by the goblins to identify any magical gifts. Some stories spoke of the wizards' and witches' feeling pain or uncomfortable when they are in the presence of someone who was sad, lonely or whatever really. Sometimes they were supposed to feel the need to help, I don't suppose I need to explain the dangers of this type of compulsion to help can have, do I?"

"How did I miss this?" Sanguini muttered, "I should have seen it..."

"My old friend, (and I use the word 'old' in a literal sense), sometimes it takes someone seeing the situation from the outside, rather than from the inside. Worry not, I may be overreacting. Let us not worry until we know for certain, shall we?" Sirius addressed the last question to the room at large and receiving nods he sighed and twisted the ornate ring that marked his status as Lord Black, on his finger.

"I feel we need a long conversation soon before long, Lord Black" Marcus said.

Sirius groaned, "Please never call me Lord Black unless there is a necessity?"

Marcus response was delayed as Harriet once more ran into the room followed by a tall brunette who was carrying a tray of tea things. Sirius was completely struck dumb by the beauty of the vampire woman. She was tall, around 5ft 10 with thick brown hair that spiraled in large corkscrews down her back whilst her pale skin shown luminous against her dark long sleeved top. Just as Sirius was staring at Heidi so Heidi was staring at Sirius. For most vampires, meeting their mate was an instantaneous thing and they could identify through scent and sight their true mate. This was what Heidi had just experienced for herself when she entered the room and smelled clearly the scent of her little human charge's godfather.

Whilst the human and the vampire stared at each other, knowing smirks were exchanged around the room whilst Alec begrudgingly handed his smirking sister a few notes of money. Meanwhile Demetri walked over to Heidi, removed the tray from her still hands and nudged her towards her starstruck mate. Heidi slightly stumbled, startled as she was by the push and Sirius immediately stood to unnecessarily right her.

"Are you alright, ma'am?" Sirius asked as every etiquette lesson he had ever had drilled into him was dredged into the front of his mind from some long forgotten corner.

"Y...Yes, I am Heidi Volturi?"

"And I am Sirius Orion Black" said the wizard as he pulled the vampire's hand up so he could bow slightly over it and gently kiss the back of it.

Heidi swallowed, "Would you like to have this conversation in private?" She was already struggling to stop herself from just biting and mating with the mate but knew that a conversation was necessary before any of that happened, he was a wizard and that changed things slightly. Sirius just smiled and offered his arm to the beautiful vampire and escorted her out the door as if they were at one of the grand balls he had been forced to attend as a boy. As soon as the pair had left the room and the double doors to the entire suite had closed talking sprung up.

Hattie stood in the middle of the room slightly confused, "Daddy, I thought he was hungry?"

"Oh, sweetie, he will be back soon I am sure, why don't you have some cake whilst I pour you some tea?"

Harriet was quick to agree, there was a slice of lemon tart with her name on it. After a few mouthfuls, the girl decided to ask something that was confusing her, "Daddy, why was Heidi so happy when she met Uncle Siri?"

Internally Marcus grimaced, how to explain the concept of vampiric mating to a child? "Well, you know how Aro is mated to Sulpica and Caius to Athenadora?" Seeing her nod, Marcus continued, "Well your Uncle Siri is mated to Heidi."

With the innocence of a child, Hattie nodded, "Okay." She was silent for a few more moments, "Daddy, what is mating?"

At this point Marcus really did grimace, "Mating is like being a husband and wife but for vampires? We know when we see someone that they are our mate? Does that makes sense?"

"Yes, thank you Daddy." Hattie went back to her tart and Marcus sighed in relief, pleased he had managed this talk and he wasn't having to explain the birds and the bees to his daughter yet. The others in the room all smirked at their king's sigh, knowing the topic he had wished to avoid.

Harriet hadn't quite finished her questions yet though, "Daddy...Will I ever have a mate?"

There was silence as each vampire tried to think of a way to explain that if Hattie ever did have a mate they would be lucky to survive speaking one word to her. Pica decided to answer though, "I am sure you will and when you do, he will love you and take care of you. Okay little one?"

Hattie wrinkled her nose slightly as she thought out-loud, "I am not sure I want a mate yet."

Caius was quite happy to jump on this bandwagon, "Perfect, if you don't want a mate that is fine. Wonderful even..."

He was interrupted by his niece once more, who said, "I said 'yet' Uncle Caius, maybe in a few years time?" As Hattie turned back to her tart and she missed Caius' grumble of "Maybe a few hundred years..." and the smirks of her vampire family, many of who were quite happily thinking of ways they could main any mate.

* * *

"Wait, you mean you have paintball games every week and then have to clean it all up by hand the following day?"

"Yes, it is a wonderful game, Sirius" Caius sniffed slightly defensively.

"I am fully agreeing with you on that, but I am a wizard, cleaning can be done with a couple of waves of a wand. Which reminds me, I really should go get a new one, even if the Ministry had not destroyed my last one, I am not sure whether it would have suited me now anyway, I have changed too much since I was eleven."

"Shall we go to the Forum Magicae tomorrow then, you need to go to Gringott's anyway to sort your affairs, why not combine the trips and meet with the goblins and get a new wand?" Sanguini asked.

"That makes sense, I could also ask whether they would provide a portkey so that we can take Hattie to have some testing done. Whilst I could apparate her into the Forum entrance, I would really prefer not to have her exposed if unnecessary. Goblins can authorise portkeys right into the bank, which would be safer and draw less attention."

"I agree" said Marcus, "It makes sense. Not that Heidi is going to let you go without her but please do see if any of the Guards will go with you. I would prefer not to explain to Hattie that her new Uncle Siri has been injured or something."

Sanguini sniffed, "Why are you Uncle 'Siri', I want a nickname, Sanguini is a longer name that Sirius, why hasn't she shortened my name?"

"Because I am cooler obviously."

"Then I am hotter!"

"That was lame even for you Sanguini...seriously your jokes were cool like two decades ago. You need to keep up with the time, old man." Sirius raised his eyebrows in challenge.

"I shall not sink to your level, after all your initials are S.O.B. aren't they, describes you pretty accurately doesn't it?"

"Yes, you met my mother darling, the unholy union between a harpy and a demon."

"Whilst this argument isn't fascinating, Sirius. I find it interesting you are still human, care to explain?" Marcus asked

"Well, we aren't really sure what the effect of being bitten will have on me. When I go to Gringott's I shall check but some bloodlines completely reject all vampire venoms so it is best I check before hand."

Caius spoke at this, "That would be a tragedy, Heidi bites you and you die in her hands..."

"No need to sound hopeful" Sirius smirked.

"Enough everyone. Sirius, I would be grateful if you would assist me in teaching Hattie some magic theory, culture and behaviour?"

"I can teach the theory side but I know nothing about behaviour really, hated the lessons so didn't try to remember them. I shall pick up some books tomorrow about theory and bring them back so we can introduce her to meditation which will be the best place to start."

"Thank you Sirius"

"Yes, thank you Sirius" Caius said, "I knew we were having you released from Azkaban for more altruistic reasons."

* * *

Sirius, returning from his trip to the Forum Magicae the next day with a new wand custom made with elm wood _(i)_ one of Heidi's hairs (she had almost kissed him within an inch of his life when he could only use part of her for a wand core, meanwhile Alec and Felix who had accompanied them, were miming being sick in the corner), there was also a portkey for the following day and more papers and folders than he ever thought could exist, decided seeing his pup would be a perfect way to procrastinate from the papers he was supposed to be looking at. Entering the throne room, Sirius found Aro standing by a table looking through several bound volumes. Seeing Sirius enter, Aro gestured him over.

"Good afternoon, Aro. Have you seen Hattie recently?"

"I saw her before lunch for her music lesson but I think she is playing with Pica and Dora at the moment. Come and look at these. I realise these are only recent photos but they are better than nothing."

Seeing the volumes were photo albums, Sirius walked closer and started to flick through the albums seeing many, many photos of Harriet's life with the Volturi, from her birthday to an entire album dedicated to their trip to Disneyland. Smiling at the photos, Sirius smiled, "Thank you for taking these and looking after Hattie when I couldn't. I need to go and find Heidi and Hattie not. Oh, I have a portkey to take us all to Gringott's tomorrow morning."

"Thank you Sirius, i would try the Queens' chambers to find Hattie. Remember it is Paintball Night tonight, I am sure that with your magic you can keep up with us?"

"Certainly" Sirius laughed

"And I am trying to organise another holiday to Disneyland, you would come wouldn't you?"

"You should try going to Disney World, it is like three times the size of Disneyland" Sirius said as he walked out of the room intent on finding his pup once more.

"Hmm…wait…Disney World? Three times bigger...? Marcus…Caius…Hattie…. We haven't been on holiday for a while, shall we go?" Aro shouted the last to the empty room. Elsewhere in the castle Caius, Sanguini and Marcus, hearing Aro's words groaned.

"Would it be treason if we accidentally-on-purpose dismembered one of the other members of vampire royalty to stop him from dragging us around Disney World?" Caius asked.

"Really at this point I think I would prefer the Disney Cruise at this point." Marcus asked "Do you think he has selectively forgotten we went to Disneyland two weeks ago?

"Yes, why oh why didn't I tell Sirius not to mention that place?" Sanguini was practically sobbing by this point, a long weekend in Disneyland had been enough for a decade,

"Do you think Pica may be able to reign him in?" Caius asked, aware he was clutching at straws as all it would take would be a few minutes on the internet for Aro to decide that he really, really, really wanted to go to Disney World.

"We can only try, even if we delay it…say some of us will go after Christmas maybe?"

"It is better than nothing" Marcus concluded as each of the three men contemplated the horror of Aro in Disney World.

* * *

 _ **Lord Black spotted in the Forum Magicae**_

 _Yesterday Sirius Orion Black was seen entering the Gringott's branch in Rome, accompanied by three cloaked figures. Whilst he too was wearing a cloak, the hood was blown off and revealed the man who was recently released from prison after proving his innocence. This reporter believes that the new Lord Black has decided to sort his affairs abroad rather risk the publicity of the streets of Diagon Alley. It is unknown who he was accompanied by or what his business was in the Bank, however, we at the Daily Prophet hope that his business was successful and that Lord Black returns to England soon. It is likely though that Lord Black will return to Britain soon to claim his seats on the Wizangamot, his seats have laid in fallow now for six years and it is likely that time needs to be taken to familiarise himself with the happenings of the magical world and the Ministry over his incarceration._

 _He is also reported as having visited a wand makers and a bookshop. Like all people sent to Azkaban, Lord Black's wand was snapped meaning that he has likely had to have another commissioned, hopefully this does not prove a problem for him. Some unconfirmed sources said that a gentleman similar to Lord Black's descripition brought books from_ Liber Magus _concerning manners and customs of the wizarding world as well as magical theory. Whether these were for him or whether for someone like Harriet Potter is unknown, however, if Lord Black has recovered his goddaughter we hope that she is well and the two time to recover from their ordeals._

 _(More on what has changes Lord Black will be having to examine from the last six years p.3-4)_

 _Due to growing pressure from both the British and international community, the Ministry yesterday announced they were reviewing all prisoners in Azkaban in the hope of avoiding another situation like Lord Black's. There has been no time scale announced but this reporter as long as, I am sure, the entire population of wizarding Britain hope that these cases are treated on an individual basis and reflect our desire for a just and true society._

 _(More on who remains incarcerated in Azkaban, p.16)_

 _Tomorrow there shall be a special interview with various experts about the impacts of this trial upon Wizarding society. As well as Lord Black's revelation about Harriet Lily Dorea Potter as his heir, this is the first time in over two centuries that one person has held the Heir (or Heiress) titles for two Most Ancient and Noble Houses at once. What does this mean for the politics of the Wizengamot and where now will the notoriously dark Black House align themselves under Lord Sirius Black, Earl of Dartmoor?_

 _By Rita Skeeter_

Sitting at his desk, Dumbledore scrumped up his copy of Daily Prophet and threw it across the room, disturbing Fawkes from his slumber on his pearch. How had it all gone so wrong? His plans were disrupted, whilst he had been unaware of Sirius Black's innocence it now meant that he could possibly loose control of Harriet Potter until Hogwarts. His instruments said that Number 4 Privet Drive remained undisturbed and safe which meant that Black had not yet recovered his goddaughter. The Headmaster of Hogwarts was well aware that he had not a foot to stand on if he were to argue with Black's guardianship of the Girl-Who-Lived, particularly since it was revealed publicly Sirius Black had sworn a godfather bond with Harriet. His original plans of keeping Harriet in a slightly hostile environment, unaware of magic would now be thwarted. He needed a new plan and fast. His best bet was to approach Sirius Black and persuade him to let him assist with his entrance back into wizarding society. That way he could nudge him towards the light side and still have an influence in Harriet's life. He tore up a letter to Arabella Figg that had been sitting on his desk for the past week asking her to move to Surrey to keep an eye on Harriet Potter. After all, as the mentor to the defeater of Voldemort, Dumbledore could once more relive his glory days as defeater of Grindlewald, not just as a footnote in history books.

* * *

 **So this story is now at over 25 000 words which I never expected to happen. Thank you for your encouragement and I shall endeavor to have a new chapter for both my Harry Potter/Twilight fics out in the next few days.**

 **(i) Elm wood in Celtic lore symbolises inner strength so I thought it fitted Sirius' new wand wood.**

 **In the next chapter, some of the Cullens arrive for a visit and Caius throws a hissy fit!**

 **If you haven't please vote in the poll on my profile, I would love to see your thoughts on pairings**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you for all your comments, this story has now received over a hundred comments and I am really grateful for your response.**

 **Some answers to various questions I have been messaged or had in the comments:**

 **Ghouly-Girl- Yes, Blaise is soon going to be brought into the story, should be in the next few chapters as will some other wonderful characters from Harriet's year.**

 **Guest- I am afraid it is Hogwarts that Hattie will attend, whilst I wasn't initially going to send her there, I really wanted to explore how she could interact with characters like Draco and Ron.**

 **Guest- Yes, they are going to go to Disney World...Aro may well enter a Disney Coma**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Twilight**

* * *

"Please...please...please...please...please...please...please..."

"NO...NO...NO...We are not going to Disney World Aro. Get a grip man, you are a vampire king, not some brattish six year old girl" Marcus yelled, "We practically spoil Hattie to within an inch of her life yet she is not even a quarter as irritating and demanding as you."

"But...please?" Seeing the glares from the other vampires in the coven, Aro decided to try another route, "Fine, I just thought that now that Sirius is with us, we should go on another holiday with Hattie..." This route didn't seem to deter any of the scowls.

"Using a child for your own ends, that is low even for you Aro" Caius griped.

Sanguini had thrown himself onto a sofa and was lying there with unconscious elegance, "Hate to disturb this enthralling argument but we are due at Gringotts in half an hour...? If we miss the portkey because we were trying to stop Aro from dragging us all to Disney World, I am not sure the goblins would appreciate the excuse."

"Fine" Aro sulked, "I will go tell Sirius and Hattie..."

"No Aro, I do not trust you to corrupt my daughter. Everyone who is going, meet here in twenty minutes, I am going to find the humans." So saying, Marcus strode out of the room muttering about insane brothers who shouldn't be trusted with a pet worm, let alone a witch child.

* * *

Thirty minutes later Aro, Marcus, Caius, Sanguini, Sirius who was carrying Hattie, as well as four members of the guards were all clustered around a piece of rope, each holding a piece of it. Seconds later they felt the jerk in the stomach that singled the portkey, opening their eyes and trying to recover momentarily, the ten looked around to see themselves in a receiving room of Gringotts' London once more. Soon the door opened and a goblin who introduced himself as Griphook proceeded to show the motley group into the office of the Chief of the Goblins, Ragnok.

"Your majesties, Lord Black, it is an honour to see you all again and lovely to see that you, Miss Potter, are well" Poor Hattie looked rather confused, she had never met a goblin before and this was all rather a lot to cope with, but she had not attended etiquette lessons with her Aunts' Pica and Dora without learning anything.

"Thank you for your greeting, Chief Ragnok and I thank you for your help getting Siri out of prison" the little girl said, looking rather endearing, even to a goblin.

"You are welcome child. Now I believe you wanted a Magics test for Miss Potter."

"That is correct" Caius said, "We are grateful you could spare the time for this."

"It was no problem, Caius. Right now, Miss Potter. For the test, I just need eight drops of your blood onto this stone, we can then see the results on this piece of spelled vellum. Is that alright?"

"Yes sir" Hattie said, wide eyed.

"Will everyone be alright remaining here for the test?" the old goblin asked the vampires. Receiving nods, the goblin handed a silver dirk knife to Marcus who carefully pricked the finger of his daughter who was now on his lap. Eight drops of blood on the stone later and writing started to appear on the piece of vellum.

 _Tests of Magics for_ _Harriet Lily Dorea Potter:_

 _Empathetic magics- high_

 _Parselmouth_

 _Creature inheritance_

 _Horcrux in scar_

Ragnok read through the words without his face changing although all the vampires noticed that his heart stuttered slightly towards the end. Obviously thinking for a second, he turned to Harriet,

"Would you mind if I discussed this all with your father first and leave him to explain it later tonight? You can wait in the next room with some of the guards whilst we talk?"

Hattie looked carefully at the goblin, then turned to her father who smiled and nodded at her. The small girl then quickly stood up of her father's lap and skipped over to Felix and looked pleadingly at her with eyes large.

"Can you come with me Felix?"

"Of course, little one, let's go" So saying Hattie found herself in the arms of the gigantic vampire and lifted lightly out of the room.

As the door closed, Caius turned to Ragnok, "I take it there is something wrong that made your heart basically miss a beat"

The Chief of the Goblins did not reply but slid the piece of vellum over to Marcus who read it quickly, his eyes scanning over unfamiliar words and phrases.

"What does this all mean, I understand parts of it but not all?"

"I shall explain as best I can Marcus but you must understand that each person is different and so what it can 'mean' can be different. I shall start at the top as it is the easiest to explain and stomach, Lord Black is right, Heiress Potter has a form of magic that can be defined as 'Empathetic'. Magic is sentient to a greater degree than many witches and wizard now will ever admit or know. When it is combined with a person's life, character and heritage it can lead to different specialties or abilities. For instance, House Black 'specialises' in offensive magic whilst House Potter 'specialises' in defensive magic, this is familial magic that can be traced throughout an entire family line. However, what Miss Potter has developed has occurred perhaps partially due to her upbringing before she met you and partially due to the strength of her magical core. Magic needs an outlet, otherwise it can basically destroy a person from the outside as it suppressed, Miss Potter's core has evolved this 'empathetic magic' likely as a preservation method, after all if she was aware of what her abusers' wanted then she was less likely to be punished. It is not an uncommon trait and many have it to a much lesser degree, however Harriet's upbringing has extenuated it. From what you have said, she is able to tell what someone wants or needs, training in occulmency may assist in lessening the pull and allowing greater focus.

Secondly, Parseltongue is of course the ability to speak to snakes however it is more than that as I am sure you know, Marcus. You of course knew Salazar Slytherin, Parseltongue has a written form as well as a brand of magic with it. I know in Britain this is seen as a dark branch of magic but I can tell you in India, Parselmouths are revered as they are in many other cultures. We shall do a lineage test once we have finished this so that we can see where this trait comes from as it is inherited either through magic or ancestry. There is not much that can be taught here unless you find another parselmouth to assist, perhaps later get her a magical snake.

Thirdly, whilst we do not know what her creature inheritance will be, we can tell there will be one and likely it will be powerful. Basically, these can vary from veela to neko to fae to any other multitude of creatures, Miss Potter's won't become apparent until she reaches her magical majority which can be between fifteen or seventeen depending on the strength of her core as well as what creature she is to become. Nearly all the scions of the ancient houses at some point come into a creature inheritance so I wouldn't worry about that as such. What you perhaps should be aware is that she could potentially identify herself to her mate or mates even before her inheritance."

Here Caius chocked slightly and had to interrupt Ragnok, "I am sorry...'mates'?'

Ragnok's reply was a smirk that chilled the blood of even the vampires, "Yes, 'mates'. Depending on the creature she becomes, she may have one, three or eight mates..."

At this even Aro spluttered whilst Marcus looked shocked, "Eight" Aro exclaimed. Sanguini and the magical vampires looked utterly amused by their counterparts reactions whilst the Volturi guard suddenly looked even more on guard as though one of these eight mysterious mates was going to waltz in and whisk their princess away.

Ragnok though had turned grave, "This is the most worrying part of the whole test. Are you aware of what a horcrux is?" As even Sanguin and Sirius looked slightly baffled, Ragnok continued with a sigh, "This is one of the darkest and most arcane form of magics there is, very few would even consider it, let alone ever make one and we had thought that all knowledge of this type of magic had been lost but clearly not. In its most basic form, a horcrux is a soul shard container. When someone kills their soul fractures, the degree to which it fractures is of course varied and there are many intricacies that I will not explain now. But basically, if a wizard or witch commits the murder of an utter innocent there is a ritual that can allow a wizard to separate part of his soul and place it in an object. This object is then immensely difficult to destroy, Fiendfire was the preferred methods normally. The initial split separates half of the soul, leaving half in the body and the object as the horcrux whilst the maker is left immortal, even if his body is destroyed he can return. There are stories though of people making two or even three of these horcruxes, leaving an eighth of their soul in their body. I have never heard nor read about anyone going so far as making a living being a horcrux. However, it is not unknown for the soul in an object to gain enough 'energy' or magic to start to interact with normal life, this is what I would be most concerned about, the presence of an unnatural piece of magic and soul in her head may affect Miss Potter."

There was utter silence as everyone processed with utter disgust what had happened to the princess of the Volturi.

There was a series of crashing sounds as Caius' fist went through a wall, Sanguini's chair arm suddenly shattered in his grip and Demetri broke the table he had been leaning on. Marcus had not even moved whilst Sirius had buried his face in Heidi's curls to hide his expression of shock and revulsion.

Marcus was the first to speak, his rational brain competing with his fury over what had happened to Harriet, "I take it the soul fragment likely belongs to Voldemort?" Ragnok's silence was enough of an answer, "I...is, is there anything that can destroy the soul fragment without harming Hattie? Something...anything?"

"I do not know at the moment, I will have my people research it. It seems likely though that Voldemort made more than one of these, if so then we shall attempt to find them too, however, I do no believe this will be an easy task."

Uncharacteristically solemn, Aro answered, "That is all we can ask, Sanguini would you ask you Lord Father to see whether he has seen anything of this ilk before?"

"Of course... Let us not tell Hattie of the horcrux yet, for one I at least need time to process it all and would prefer not to have to explain it to her in anger and confusion. I suggest we tell her the rest...except perhaps the part about the possibility of eight mates..."

Sanguini was interrupted by Caius' snort, "She will be lucky to half a mate"

The tension in the room started to bleed away as they considered how Caius (and indeed themselves) would react when their Hattie met her mate. Pica and Dora had a series of bets going about how various members of the coven would react, for instance, Dora had bet that Caius would dismember them, Pica had bet that Felix and Demetri would join him, Dora had then bet that Jane would make use of her power for an unspecified time whilst Alec went to fetch the gasoline...They had both concluded that Marcus, as he best understood the mating bond would be the only one to act rationally, Heidi and Chelsea would just think the whole thing was terribly romantic, and then they would act as irritating chaperones, following them everywhere. Sirius was a bit of a loose canon and neither Pica nor Dora could decide whether he would kill the mate outright or just make his life exceedingly painful for a very long time.

Ever the practical one, Marcus decided to return to the more important matters, "You mentioned a lineage test Ragnok, would you prefer to address that now?"

"I see no reason why not, it is better to know now rather than have any more unwanted surprises."

Sanguini had to ask, "You are expecting 'unwanted surprises'?"

Ragnok snorted, "She is the daughter of James Potter, goddaughter of Sirius Black. The former once got sucked into one of the vaults when he was a boy because he tried to open it with a stroke of his finger...the latter decided as a boy to drop a firework from a moving vault cart so that he could see how deep the caves went". At this all looked at the wizard in question who suddenly seemed very interested in the stone ceiling of the office.

"Understood, Jane, would you get Hattie please?" Soon the door was opened and Hattie once more found herself ensconced on her father's lap.

"Was everything alright Daddy?" Harriet asked, rather worried by the whole situation.

Her father smiled gently at her, "Everything was fine, sweetheart. Although I am afraid that Ragnok needs a little more of your blood."

"Why?"

"Because we need to do a lineage test, which means we can see all your ancestors and Houses."

"Oh...alright"

Another eight drops of blood later and writing once more appeared on a second place of vellum.

 _Harriet Lily Dorea Potter_

 _Father: James Charlus Potter, Lord of House Potter_

 _Mother: Lily Evans_

 _Godfather: Sirius Orion Black,_ _unclaimed Lord of House Black_

 _Adopted father: King Marcus Volturi of the Volturi_

 _Magical Guardian: Sirius Orion Black, unclaimed Lord of House Black_

 _Heir to House Potter (through father); House Black (through godfather); House Peverell (through Potter line); House Gryffindor (through Potter line); House Slytherin (through rights of conquest of Tom Marvolo Riddle)_

"Well that was certainly unexpected" Ragnok stated as he passed the paper over to Marcus and Hattie.

Hattie sat reading it for a moment, "Look, Daddy, it says your name there!"

"So it does, that is rather a nice surprise! Question... How can Hattie be heir to so many houses, particularly the Founders' houses?"

Ragnok looked at Marcus quickly, "It is all explained there isn't it, House Potter is descended from the third Peverell brother, whilst there are no assets to speak of as they were incorporated into the Potter vaults, there are a few artifacts around. I am slightly unsure when and how the Gryffindor line comes in, either the Peverell's were descended from Godric or the lines married into one another at some point. House Black heirship is rather obvious, particularly now as I presume Mr Black you do not want to father a child with someone else now you have found your mate?" Seeing Sirius' slightly revolted face and Heidi's rather angry one, Ragnok continued, "That leaves Miss Potter as heiress. Some of the more ancient houses are conquest houses, if the line is ended then the title and effects move, by right of conquest, to the one who defeated them. The line of House Slytherin ended with Voldermort, when Miss Potter vanquished him, even temporarily, magic obviously choose her as the new heir and lady."

Even Sanguini was slightly shocked by this information overload, "Isn't there some law about is there is only one heir, the titles can be claimed before the majority?" he asked.

Ragnok quickly thought about it, "...Yes, but it would be a lot of work for one so long and I do not believe it would be wise for Harriet to claim all her titles now, it would draw too much unnecessary attention She wouldn't get any more seats as the seats from the Gryffindor and Peverell line have been incorporated into the Potter holdings but there is as I am sure you are aware a certain...privileged attached to the names."

The vampires all thought of the dangers this would all present, however Sirius decided to have his say, "I plan on claiming my lordship of House Black in the New Year. Wouldn't it be possible for me to take control of the seats of House Potter then, I am her guardian?"

"You are correct, it would also remove those seats from Dumbledore who still has control of them until you do claim them. However, it is important to point out that Miss Potter may have to appear to prove you have guardianship of her, I do not believe Dumbledore will go down without a fight."

"We can speak more of this, when my account manager is here and I have a lawyer." Sirius stated, "We obviously need much more time to prepare"

* * *

"Right...this is an even bigger threat..." The guards of the Volturi once more found themselves clustered in a small room,

"I agree Felix, we need a more expansive plan."

"Definitely Jane, the Cullen's will not steal our Hattie. At least now, we know that the magical vampires are own our side...actually Felix call them...they need to know of the threat too."

There was a few moments of scuffling before Felix produced his phone and thumbed through the contacts to Alcard, Sanguini's guard and best friend. The phone rang before the magical vampire answered rather grumpily,

"Felix, if you have annoyed Jane and are wanting to hide from her again, I am not helping"

The vampire in question would have blushed if he could. "No Alcard. We need your help with something else?"

"Alright, you have garnered me interested...what is it?"

Here Jane butted in, "Some of the Cullens are coming to stay tomorrow, we don't want them to influence Hattie"

"As much as I would like to help, there is not much I can do, the Cullen's do not know of magical vampires and I believe your kings' would prefer it to remain that way. Ergo, I can't be there to help"

"But...please?" Demetri asked

"Go speak to Sanguini, I know he is there, he seems to spend more time with you than he does here" Alcard griped.

"Right. Speak to Sanguini and find a way to hide Hattie from the evil vegetarian vampires...maybe we could just kill them before they arrive, that would be easier! Thanks Alcard!"

Alcard's cry of "That wasn't what I said" was cut off as Felix cut the call and the group of Volturi guards marched off to find Sanguini and if necessary prepare for a protracted siege of their castle...by vegetarian vampires...

* * *

Entering the atrium of the Voluri's Castle, Carlisle, Esme, Emmett and Rosalie were more than a little surprised (and intimidated) to find around ten members of the guard standing there. It was clear that the guards weren't exactly pleased to see them there as they glared at the small party with an intense suspicion. Demetri walked towards the group,

"Carlisle, we are glad that you could visit again, the kings will see you now. If you would all follow me."

As he made to follow Demetri, Carlisle inclined his head to his family who were caught unaware by the brusque manner of the Greek vampire.

Together the four Cullens followed Demetri with Felix and Alec following behind, down to the throne room. Out of the vegetarian vampires, only Carlisle had ever entered the castle of the Volturi or indeed ever met the kings. Getting closer to the throne room, the vampires were rather shocked to hear two heart beats emanating from it as well as the smell of one male human and one young girl, Rosalie and Esme swallowed slightly, worried for the child. But they were all completely shocked to be announced into the room and see a small dark haired girl sitting on Marcus' lap and clutching his cloak slightly with her left hand as she looked with interest at the new arrivals. The small part of Rosalie's brain that listened to Alice's rants on fashion noted that the pitch black dress she wore was by DSquared2, however the main thing about the dress was that it was of a very similar style to those worn by the kings as it too had gold braiding across the chest. Her presence though confused them all, as did the presence of another human, however Carlisle did note that the grey eyed man leaned into Heidi slightly so it was entirely plausible they were mates although it didn't explain why he was still human. Carlisle was interrupted from his confused thoughts by Aro.

"Carlisle, it is wonderful to see you in our halls once more", with that Aro held out his hand to Carlisle, who knowing what was expected, placed his hand in Aro's so his every thought and intention could be read.

"Come now" Aro said, "You must introduce your coven"

Carlisle would have snorted if he was not rather aware of the glares he was receiving from all corners of the room, Aro was well aware of each and every member of his coven already however, "Certainly. This is my wife and mate, Esme and these are two of the members of our family. Emmett and his wife and mate, Rosalie."

"It is wonderful to meet you all." Aro said, "Carlisle was once such a favoured member of this court, we have missed his presence so, and it is wonderful to meet his coven." He finished with rather a creepy smile before offering his hand to first Esme, then Rosalie and finally Emmett, each of whom offered their hand, knowing it was unavoidable. Once the raven haired king had finished, he turned back to the dais and his throne, smiling slightly at the small girl seated in Marcus' lap.

"Marcus" Aro said, "Would you care to make introductions?"

"Of course Aro" Carlisle was slightly confused, Marcus had just said a sentence longer than two words, Carlisle was further shocked when Marcus continued, "This is Harriet Potter, my daughter who we adopted three months or so ago."

Of all the things that could have been said, this was one that Carlisle would have thought of last. Definitely.

"...Right" Carlisle said, he tried to start a question but stopped himself and just looked at the three kings and the little girl, Harriet who was looking at them all. Rosalie was staring at Harriet with awe and a little envy. Carlisle was more than a little shocked when Harriet squirmed off Marcus' lap and walked over to Rosalie,

"Would you like to play with me?"

"Sorry" Rosalie said, which Carlisle saw as a perfectly rational response, after all a little girl had just asked whether a vampire wanted to play.

Meanwhile, Harriet was busy trying to get Rosalie to play, "Can you come and play with me?"

Rosalie practically stuttered a yes and the little girl reached up and grabbed her hand before leading her towards the door.

"What is your name?"

"Erm...Rosalie..."

There was silence for a minute as they walked out the door before Harriet said "Okay... Can I call you Rose?". With that the door closed behind Rosalie, Harriet and Chelsea and Heidi who accompanied them. Carlisle slowly turned from the door to the kings.

"What just happened?" he asked, definitely not squeaked. The only response he got was snorted laughter from around the room.

* * *

 **The next chapter will cover more of the Cullen's visit and Christmas at Volterra**

 **If you haven't then please take the poll on my profile for the pairing for this story. At the moment Jasper, Seth and Garrett are at the top but I would love to see what as many people as possible think.**

 **I will try to put another chapter for all of my stories up this weekend so keep an eye out for those. As ever please read and review!**


	11. Chapter 11

**A slightly shorter chapter as at the moment the next chapter is really quite long. It should be up next week but as I have my end of university term, I may not have it out as quickly.**

 **Right, the poll is now down and by a country mile, Jasper came at the top with 28% of the votes, he was followed by a triad pairing with 22%. I have not quite decided whether it will be a triad or not but Jasper will definitely be a mate.** **The rest of the Cullens aren't there intentionally as I did not want Jasper to meet Hattie yet.**

 **DaYaNa1997- As Jasper is going to be mated to Hattie, I will likely have Alice and Edward together, I am not a great fan of Bella so there will be some Bella bashing at some point but as it is minor to the story there won't be much about her.**

 **I do not own Harry Potter nor Twilight!**

* * *

To say that Carlisle and the rest of the Cullens were both having a wonderful time and experiencing a level of fear that was almost making their hearts restart whilst at Volterra was an understatement. This polar opposite normally were a result of the presence of Hattie or not. If the small raven haired girl then everything was wonderful, Rosalie got to play dolls and dress-ups, Emmett was used as a prince/horse/dragon to act out scenes, Esme got to cook (even after nearly three months, the Volturi vampires tended to have the secretary cook) whilst Carlisle got to read stories, teach history and medicine. However, as soon as Hattie was gone then everything changed and they were subject to glares and suspicion from the Volturi guards, the Kings' weren't so bad but the guard were at a whole different level, they could completely compete with Rosalie's glares at idiotic mortals or Jane's glares at moronic vampires... Even after six days of staying, whilst the glares had slightly subsided, they were still completely present. The vegetarian vampires had worked out pretty quickly that it was basically jealously however that didn't really help matters, indeed Carlisle was pretty certain that when they did leave, their bags would be searched scrupulously to check they hadn't hidden a certain human in the luggage.

At present Carlisle was sitting in Hattie's suite, protected by doors which Emmett had been quick to point out were around 10cm thick and reinforced so that basically a tank could fire at them and the paint wouldn't chip. The good doctor was staring with more than a little bewilderment from the sofa at the new dolls' house in front of him. Okay...doll's house was an understatement, even dolls' mansion didn't really fit. It was so large that even standing up, Harriet didn't reach up to the second floor of the five floor monstrosity. Each of the twenty or so rooms were decorated with wallpaper, curtains, working lights, carpets and furnished opulently, there were even some miniature paintings that Carlisle was pretty certain were done by a certain blonde king. Really the funniest thing about the gift, which the guards had given to the small girl for no apparent reason, was the dolls' that came with it could be easily correspond to various members of the coven...Carlisle couldn't decide if it was sweet or a little creepy. He smirked, maybe he should get dolls' for Hattie of each of his family members, just to annoy the guards...actually that was a bad idea, he may end up in a furnace along with the dolls. For being too 'familiar' with the girl, that was what Felix had already grumbled about.

Hattie at this moment was sitting on the floor placing her dolls around, Chelsea and Felix were in the kitchen, Afton in the library, Sirius and Heidi in one of the eight bedrooms, Caius in the Billiard room etc. Hattie herself had placed herself with her father, Marcus, in the sitting room.

Looking back around the room, Carlisle was distinctly at peace in a manner he never quite expected himself to be in Volterra. The three kings and the guards would bend over backwards to keep Hattie happy and this had led to some changes in the Volturi's routine. Whilst Carlisle had originally been attracted to the civility of the Volturi before he settled in America, this civility was now not as violent and used purely to parade over others. The doctor sighed and settled back in his seat and picked up another ancient book from the Volturi's library.

* * *

Okay, apparently Carlisle had spoken too soon when he said that the Volturi weren't as violent as they once were. He and the others in his family had just been handed a paintball gun each loaded with pink pellets. There were three other teams, each led by one of the three kings (Marcus with blue paint, Aro with red and Caius with green) and teams of four in total. Emmett of course was more than happy with the idea, after all he had been given a gun and told to battle twelve others. Esme looked a little startled by the whole thing, after all it was apparent that this was a weekly game, the Volturi teams had special clothes and obvious tactics. Rosalie looked like the whole thing was utterly beneath her, however Carlisle was not fooled, as soon as someone hit her hair, she would turn into a berserker and massacre whoever dared hit her...hopefully it wouldn't be Emmett as that would be awkward. (Carlisle himself was on the same wavelength as his mate and was more than a little bemused.)

"Right" Aro said "Everyone has their teams. There is soon going to be a single bell, after that we all have twenty seconds to position ourselves anywhere in the castle (except for the bedrooms, library and offices and anyone who disturbs Hattie will not be allowed to see her for a week...). After the twenty seconds are up, there will be a double bell that will mark start of the game. We play until the pellets and paint grenades run out...May the odds be ever in you favour!"

Seconds later a single bell went and all the vampires scatted in their teams. The Cullen team reconvened on the third floor in a niche, one of the problems with Volterra was that as the entire building had been inhabited with vampires for over a millennia, the scent had almost infused into the stone so it was not immediately obvious where a particular vampire was, making this game even harder. Emmett was leaning as though exhausted, for some reason, with his hands on his knees.

"We need a plan of action, those bastards will massacre if we don't..."

His mate was quick to answer, "Why does it even matter, it is just a game?"

"Rosalie, this isn't just a game...we need to win, for us, for the others at home, for America, for vegetarian vampires the world over?"

"You have been watching too many action films..." Rosalie said

"You will be glad of that soon. Now tactics...Carlisle and I will go point, Rosalie watch our flank, Esme, I need you in the centre" with that the double bell sounded.

"Okay this is stupid" Rosalie moaned.

* * *

Rosalie was not saying that two hours later, as Carlisle had predicted, as soon as her hair had been hit, she had become a weapon of mass destruction. The Cullen team had made a temporary truce with Marcus' team and had proceeded to destroy Aro's team. The truce didn't last though and within twenty minutes it was back to every team for themselves. Emmett was having the time of his life and hadn't stopped laughing for a while now, Carlisle was sort of sad that Jasper wasn't there as he was certain that if a certain Major had been there, they would have won within half an hour due to his amazing tactics. All the baseball had given the Cullens' a fearsome advantage with the paint grenades and they had used this to great effect, Carlisle was very glad that all the art had been removed from the walls before play otherwise there would be more than a few Raphael's and Caillebotte's ruined. Mind you, Carlisle wasn't quite sure anyway how they were planning to remove all the paint from the walls, floors, ceilings and furniture.

Three hours after the game had started, the teams reconvened in the throne room as all the ammo had been finished. Everyone was liberally covered with paint whilst the wall behind the thrones looked like some sort of Jackson Pollock painting. It was abundantly clear that no winner could ever be declared, after all nearly everyone was covered with at least three colours of paint, Emmett of course had four as he had a large pink splodge covering his crotch area from when Rosalie had gotten too annoyed by his constant film reconstructions and imitations (particularly of Rambo).

"That was so much fun" Emmett said, "We need to do that back at home"

"Try and I will kill you if you destroy my house" Esme growled.

Carlisle had to ask here, "Speaking of destroying houses, how do you clean this lot up?"

Aro waved off the question, "Don't worry, we have a system, it will be mostly done by tomorrow morning. I feel the need though to go wash out the paint, it has got in my ear and is rather uncomfortable."

"I think I will go check on my daugher" Marcus said, "Before going to have a bit of sit down with a good book. Cullens, I would recommend you do the same" With that the three kings and the two queens sauntered out of the room, guns slung over their shoulder. The vegetarian vampires just looked at each other, shrugged before strolling out of the room towards the guest quarters.

The next morning, when the Cullen's left their quarters they were slightly shocked and awed to see the castle returned to its non-multicoloured state, of course they weren't to know of Sirius' liberal use of household spells and charms...

* * *

Ten days after the Cullen's arrived, they had to leave. The coven was in the midst of moving to a new location, they were thinking somewhere in Washington, and so needed to return to help their coven-mates. Hattie was the only one who was actually sad to see them all leave and had proceeded to beg a promise out of Esme and Carlisle that they would return yearly, 'beg' was probably the wrong word as that would imply some level of effort, that was not the case as they were all too happy to promise to visit. It seemed likely that at some point Hattie would be brought over to America, the Volturi seemed keen to make her most learned and well traveled person they could and America seemed a useful place to visit. (Of course the Cullens' weren't to know that this was partly so that Aro would get to go to Disney World). Promises had been extracted so that the Cullens' would not mention Hattie's existence, Carlisle had shuddered at this, knowing full well that some of the Volturi's enemies would love that knowledge. As the car drove out of the underground garage, Hattie waved.

"I liked the Cullens" she said, unaware of the pouts on the faces of many of the guards of the Volturi. Marcus just smirked at the reactions of some of the oldest and most powerful people in the supernatural world and pulled his little daughter closer to him.

* * *

As autumn turned to winter, Sanguini came for his weekly visit.

"Morning all!"

"Oh, it's you..." Caius stated, looking up from a scroll.

"Yes, it is me, your wonderful friend...Anyway, I was wondering what you were all getting Hattie for Christmas, I didn't want to get her something someone else was already getting her."

"Christmas?" Aro asked

"Yes Christmas, I know you haven't ever celebrated it but I thought the idea of a legitimate reason to give Hattie presents and basically a month long festival might appeal to you. If not I can just do something with Sirius and myself"

"Christmas celebrates Jesus Christ's birthday, what has it to do with presents?"

"Christmas is much less now about the whole religious thing and more of a time for family, presents and food. Seriously, when have you ever seen the television of read any books written in the last two centuries?"

Aro answered once more, "I have read Oscar Wilde and many others...Sirius recommended a new series called _Fifty Shades of Grey [i]_ or something, I haven't started it yet though."

Sanguini only just managed to hold back the snort, "Oh yes, that series is wonderful, try it sometime. Anyway, go speak to Sirius about the wizarding holiday of Yule, we should celebrate the wizarding holiday with the muggle after all."

After a conversation with an excited Sirius, it was obvious that the man was well prepared for Christmas as well as the wizarding holiday of Yule. Soon news spread to all members of the Volturi that they were celebrating Christmas, catelogues were flicked through, adverts and reviews watched and read as all tried to find the perfect present for Hattie.

* * *

"Okay Hattie." Sirius said "As you know many of the wizarding holidays and traditions and related to what is now called Paganism. So instead of Halloween we have Samhaim and instead of Christmas we have Yule. Yule is celebrated today, the Winter Solstice so the 21st December. That is when the days are at their absolute shortest in the year and so as a sign of hope for the days lengthening as well as a time to celebrate during a harsh winter, Yule became one of the main holidays in the wizarding holiday. Now it is not celebrated as openly as it is generally seen as 'dark' so we never openly say that we are celebrating it.

There are many different aspects of the festival day; there is the obvious feasting and dancing but there is also something called blót, which is a type of sacrifice, this is the reason why it is characterised as dark. Blood sacrifices aren't common now, instead we sacrifice some of our finest foods, drinks as well as a garland. The garland uses all plants of winter, such as mistletoe, holly and oak. The mistletoe has to be but with a golden sickle, generally each family has one of their own for ceremonial use, after it is cut, the sprigs cannot touch the floor, it symbolises protection and healing. Oak and holly are often seen as opposites which is why they are used together. Holly is present during winter and represents the ever present energy of life and magic. Oak is the symbol of strength, dignity and wisdom, as in ancient times it was often seen as attracting lightning it is also seen as a good conduit of magic. Traditionally we would cut the oak at midsummer but as we didn't this year we shall have to make do. We will weave the wreath together and incorporate seven pieces of our hair. Seven is the most magical number and the hair is a plea for protection.

There is one other important aspect which is the Yule Log. The day before Yule, we shall all go as a family to select a log, we will select a log that will burn for twelve days. This again has a very long history and we will do it to symbolise light in dark times. If it goes out then it is unlucky to relight the log. Do you have any questions?"

"Is it really bad that we celebrate it?" the small girl asked frowning slightly.

"No, unfortunately holidays like these got lumped into the dark magic category because people feared the idea of blood sacrifice so it became easier to just blacklist the whole lot and go with Christmas, Easter etc. It also was supposed to make it easier for muggleborns to accept the new society, Christian holidays were easier to stomach than Pagan." Harriet nodded and thought deeply.

* * *

Three days later found Hattie sitting with her muggle and magical vampires as well as Sirius around a bonfire. Whilst the vampires were keeping a slightly wary distance, they were all keen to see once more these ancient practices. Hattie and Sirius had spent most of the day before collecting materials for their wreath as well as a Yule Log and spent a few hours weaving the garland together as well as preparing the log to be burned. As was the tradition, they also had a Sonargöltr or Yule Boar, another pagan tradition apparently from the Norse gods, whilst Sirius, Hattie and the magical vampires had eaten the meat of the boar, the offal and head were burned on the bonfire in the gardens outside the castle. Soon the garlands were added as well as some of the wine.

From this fire, Sirius took a light and set about carefully lighting the Yule Log in the throne room fireplace, it had to burn slowly enough to burn for the twelve days but not too fast, otherwise it just went out. As soon as the fire caught slightly, Sirius leaned back and flicked his wand, causing music to start up. Laughing slightly, Sirius pulled Heidi into a dance. He was followed soon enough by other couples, Hattie being swung around by first Sanguini and afterwards nearly everyone else. Soon after midnight, an exhausted Hattie was picked up by her father and settled into her bed. Smiling at her as he closed her bedroom door, Marcus turned to rejoin the party which, from his time with the Founders, he remembered as ending when the sun rose on the 22nd December.

* * *

Christmas Day dawned bright in Italy three days later. Waking up Hattie was more than a little excited, every other Christmas she could remember, she had cooked food for the Dursley's and then sat in her cupboard hearing them eat and opening presents. They had already celebrated Yule but now it was time for the muggle holiday. The night before the vampires had decided that Hattie would not have her stocking (again this was a misnomer, as Sirius had placed an undetectable extension charm on it so it was now about four metres deep) at the foot of her bed but it was in the throne room so when she woke up, she could go down and open it with her vampire family.

One thing sitting at the foot of her bed though was a onesie that looked like a lamb. Replacing her normal pajamas with the onesie, Hattie trotted off downstairs to the throne room. Entering the room, she was quite confused to see all the vampires (and Sirius) in onesies, Felix was a dragon, Sirius and Heidi were matching lions (apparently for Gryffindor), Demetri a bear, Caius a wolf (rather ironically as he hated werewolves), Marcus was a bat (again ironic). Aro obviously hadn't got the animal memo and had came as Santa Claus, complete with fake beard and stomach.

Three hours later and the entire floor of the throne room was covered with paper, bubblewrap and presents. At present Alec was helping Hattie make a vast box fort, it was a work of wonder and there were two floors and had used over three rolls of brown tape. Felix was rather jealous and pouting though as he was too big to fit in it, unlike Alec and Jane. Caius was sitting sideways on his throne, his legs slung over its arm, reading a new book whilst Aro sat with a book about the history of Disney whilst Marcus flicked through the photos on the camera of the day. The (relative) peace was interrupted by Sirius,

"Oh, oh, oh...I got all the Volturi vampires a present." Hearing Sirius words, many looked rather suspicious.

"What is it?" Aro asked

Pulling out a large cardboard box, Sirius pulled out some red lollipops, "Bloodpops!"

"I am sorry, repeat that?" Caius asked.

"Bloodpops, they are made in the wizarding world for vampires, try one." The excited human said as he distributed lollipops to all. Pulling the wrapper of one, Marcus discretely smelled it before shrugging and giving one a tentative lick. Hearing a light moan from the dark haired king, all the other vampire store of the plastic wrapper and tried theirs too. Seeing their reaction, Sirius smiled, they were quite well received, although he did check to see how many he had, how long would it take twenty five vampires to go though two hundred bloodpops?

(Apparently three days was the answer, Sirius could only shudder to think what the response he would get if he marched into Honeydukes and asked for eight hundred blood pops.)

* * *

 **(Many of the traditions for Yule here are real such as the Yule boar and garlands, but I have altered some of them slightly to suit)**

 **[i] I am fully aware _Fifty Shades of Grey_ was written as a result of Twilight and much later but I thought it was something Sirius would find hilarious.**

 **The next few chapters will be episodes life to slightly skip the whole growing up. As ever please review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A really long chapter for some reason...Oh well, enjoy! As I couldn't find anything on the set up of the Wizengamot I have organised it how it best suits the story. Sorry if there are extensive notes on how it is organised...**

 **Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter nor Twilight and make no money from my writings**

* * *

In the 1930s a member of the Nott family published a book of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, or the families in wizarding Britain who remained 'pure-blooded'. Within its pages there was a definite mix of wealth, affiliations and backgrounds. It ranged from the darker families like House Malfoy and Black, to the more neutral in House Greengrass and finally the light affiliated with families such as Weasley. The response to being on the list ranged almost as much as the families, families like Malfoy saw it as an opportunity for prestige and to laud over others whilst House Weasley hated it and their disenfranchisement with the society associated with being one of these twenty-eight houses, saw them being labelled as 'Blood-traitors' as they disregarded some of the customs and cultures of the ancient families. For Sirius, this desire to extol one's family status based on a list written by a man who was one of these families was irritatingly stupid. After all when Nott curated the list, he left of House Potter. Exactly why he did was debated for quite a long time afterwards, whether because of their common name or because of their predilection for pro-muggle actions and reactions, it did not really matter. The Potters' were powerful and wealthy, clever and influential, for all the time Sirius had known them, it did not matter what a book had to say about their family's status, as ever the Potters' would do it their way, even if it did exclude them from certain parties and events.

At the centre of it all was the Wizengamot. With around fifty members, nearly every member of the Sacred Twenty-Eight had the opportunity to vote. Whilst during criminal trials, only one vote was allowed per member, for the passing of bills, legislation and laws, the number of votes or 'seats' they received was dependent on their history in wizarding Britain and their status. For instance, Malfoy was an Ancient House, yet due to them only moving from France in relatively recent history, they only received one seat, House Weasley, an Ancient and Noble House, received two seat, at one point they did have more but a broken magical contract had punished them by losing one of their votes. Only very few Houses could have four seats, included among this number were House Potter and Black. The latter could trace its distinguished history back over eight hundred years, whilst the former (although this knowledge had been relegated to ancient and forgotten history books) were descended from the Peverells'. It had become convention for the Heir of a family to receive one of their familial seats upon the fifteenth birthday to prepare them for the job of _Paterfamilias._

This was the type of society Sirius Orion Black found himself in once more, a society where status was above money but second only to family. And he...well he was the Lord of House Black, a traditionally darkly aligned house, but guardian for the Potter family, a traditionally light house. He would be pressurised from all quarters, the light side would want him to join as would the dark, eight votes in any one block would be a huge asset. The grey block of the Wizengamot had been severely damaged during the last war, and many had chosen to lay their allegiances elsewhere to gain protection from either the light or the dark. In truth, 'light' and 'dark' were basically just phrases for the separation of traditional against more modern views, or at least they had been. Both sides had become twisted to such a point that members two, three centuries ago wouldn't be able to identify which side was which.

However, entering this political ring was a necessity that Sirius did not have the luxury of avoiding, as a child he had hated the idea of becoming Lord Black but he now knew he was doing it to help protect his darling pup from those who would manipulate her or wish her harm. And so dressed in his full familial regalia, Sirius stood in Gringotts, London, on the first day of the New Year. The 1st of January was traditionally the start of the new Wizangamot year and whilst Sirius could reclaim his votes and seats at any other point, doing it now ensured that as many people as possible would be there. He needed to make a statement, a statement about his family, his magics and his beliefs, all the while not revealing too much about his location and plans. Even Sirius, trained as he had been since he could talk to converse eloquently and in a Slytherin manner, this was no easy task and he tilted his head back slightly and muttered a brief plea for guidance from Magic.

Wearing his familial robes, which featured his crest sewn in gold threads upon his breast, Sirius stood. He had been preparing for the Wizengamot for months, knowing that at some point he would have to return to their chambers once more. The goblins had been perhaps the greatest help in this preparation, without them Sirius knew he would have failed his House and Hattie too by being unaware or unprepared for the near constant vitriol and plotting that occurred throughout the entire Wizengamot. Sirius was slightly unsure what the response to his presence would be, some may expect him to revolt against the Ministry for his illegal incarceration, others would expect him to be an incapable and uninterested lord to manipulate, whilst others still would expect him to follow Dumbledore like the mindless sheep he had been before the war. Huffing out a breath, Sirius nodded to his account manager who had entered the room to inform him he needed to leave, before striding out of the room with cloak swirling in his wake.

* * *

The start of the Wizengamot year was as a thing of routine, at three o'clock in the afternoon, members with their families would arrive, after drinks, the group would convene to the Great Chamber before the Minister, Chief Warlock as well as various members of the group would make speeches and pontificate for an hour or two before everyone retired for tea. For the past six years, pretty much the entire day was the same, the same speeches, the same arguments, even Madame Longbottom still wore the same outfit.

As the clock chimed four, the members of the Wizengamot passed through the doors into the Great Chamber, the doors to this room had been spelled such that no-one under a glamour or polyjuice potion could pass through, working rather similarly to the Thief's Downfall in the caverns of Gringott's. The room was arranged, rather like an amphitheatre with tiered seating, political alignments were displayed by which side of the room a member sat on. Those traditionally dark families sat on the right, the neutral in the middle (although there were few members there now) and the light on the left, it was an arrangement born of centuries of arguing, speeches and writings. It also meant that there was less likely to be any fighting, poisonings or love potions.

"We now call to order the opening session of the six hundredth and forty third Wizengamot. Are there any who would claim or alter their seats?"

There was silence for a moment, few expected there to be any changes, however just as Dumbledore was about to start the traditional blessing, a voice was heard through the room.

"I would like to claim my seats"

Everyone turned to the door quickly, hearing the voice and upon seeing Sirius Orion Black and realised that this session would likely prove interesting.

"What seats would you lay claim to?" Dumbledore asked again

"By right of birth and magic I lay claim to the seats of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black, as guardian I lay claim to the seats of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter for Harriet Lily Dorea Potter."

There was a moment of silence before muttering started, everyone had known that Sirius could have claimed the Black seats, but many had expected him to leave the Potter seats under Dumbledore's control, for Sirius to do this was unexpected and potentially changed the entire balance of power within the Wizengamot.

Minister Fudge cleared his throat slightly, knowing that his tenure in the Ministry hung slightly in the balance, "We are honoured that you are joining us once more, would you please prove your claims?"

In the centre of the Great Chamber sat a plinth, upon which rested a large roughly hewed stone about a foot long. Its purpose was to identify and prove the claims of lineage within the Wizengamot to avoid conflict as it was said to have been enchanted by Merlin himself, for this reason (as well as it was one of the few ways capable of this task) the stone was perhaps the only use of blood magic allowed in Britain. It identified a person as well as any magical bonds they had sworn, it was one of the reasons why no marked Death Eaters would ever enter the Wizengamot as there allegiances were laid bare for all to see. Approaching it, Sirius was handed a knife by a Ministry official and sliced a line across the palm of his wand hand before placing it flat upon the stone. The ambient magic in the room swirled and contorted slightly as they were invoked.

The silence of the full room was broken by a voice that seemed to be old and young, male and female, deep and high all at the same time, never fixing on a single pitch nor on a single tone, "Sirius Orion Black, son of Orion and Walburga Black, Lord of House Black, four seats. Bonded to Harriet Lily Dorea Potter, daughter of Lord James Potter and Lily Potter, with a godfather bond. Guardian for the House of Potter, four seats." With that the ground trembled slightly, as the Magics once more settled back.

Everyone turned to Dumbledore waiting for him as Chief Warlock, to grant Sirius ceremonial leave to take a seat. Sirius wanted to smirk as he noticed the tension on the old man's face, he had been trying to make contact with the ex-convict for the past four months, likely trying to gain control over him but the goblins had been good at laying false trails for the headmaster to follow. The overwhelming need to smile came back once more as Sirius saw Dumbledore dig himself a hole by starting to speak without due courtesy and failing to give the blessing as he should have.

"My dear boy, we are honoured you are here..."

Here Sirius interrupted feigning amazement at the words of the Chief Warlock, "I am sorry Chief Warlock, but you are expected to give your blessing to my claim due to your status as Chief Warlock, not address me in such a casual manner nor pontificate unnecessarily. So I will ask, do you give me leave to take my seats?"

Dumbledore looked like someone had stolen his lemon drops, "My apologies, I thought as an old student of mine I would..."

Sirius decided this whole politics thing was much funner than he expected, "Chief Warlock, you have never taught me but were my headmaster, and whilst you may have taught more than two thirds of the members of this Wizengamot you do not seem to address them so informally. You may be a teacher and headmaster of Hogwarts but here you are the Chief Warlock and I demand that I am addressed in the manner which tradition dictates."

Sirius would have started to laugh, if he was not so sure that it would look so bad, the dark factions looked amused at seeing the Chief Warlock, who they all saw as demeaning and irritating, brought down in such a manner by the new Lord. The light side looked like Sirius had killed their cat, as he addressed their precious 'lord of light'. Having said that though, some of the more traditional members of the light side such as Amelia Bones and Madame Longbottom nodded with agreement at Sirius pointed out Dumbledore's slights and bad manners.

The twinkle in Dumbledore's eye had dimmed and he realised he had to continue the traditional blessing, "Lord Black, please join us as your blood and Magics allow. Blessed be."

Sirius smiled and proceeded to walk to the foot of the steps leading up to the tiered seating of the members, to the right sat the dark side, to the left the light. The new member made a show of looking around at the distribution of the lords and ladies. Aware of how the lords, ladies, visitors in the galleries and press were watching, he sighed slightly before walking up the steps to the grey block. The grey block only contained around five lords, with the others forty five or so members spread almost equally between the light and dark blocks. There was considerable muttering when Sirius choose the neutral side which was forever stuck between the opposing other blocks. By now Dumbledore eye twinkle had dimmed to nothing whilst many looked with surprise as the new Lord Black settled in his seat and pulled out a quill and parchment for notes.

Once more Fudge cleared his throat as he sought to return attention back to the normal proceedings of speeches.

"Lord Black we are honoured that you and your House have once more joined us." Receiving a graceful inclination of the head from the man in question, the Minister continued, "Chief Warlock, would you start the speeches?"

With that Dumbledore started a speech about the war and redemption. Sirius was more than a little annoyed, why could Dumbledore not just move forward rather than focusing on the future.

"Would anyone else like to speak?"

Sirius knew that it was expected that he should speak, whenever a new Lord entered the Wizengamot and took their seats, it was expected that they announce their main political beliefs as well as a sort of introduction. So he stood and waited until he was recognised by the Minister before he strode down the steps to the dais where, without any notes or cards, he started to address the room at large.

"My honourable lord, ladies and members of the house. The reputation of House Black has sunk to the point that I doubt many houses have before. We are associated with the terrors of the last war and whilst I will not for one second try to excuse the actions or beliefs of members of my house, I would ask that people are aware of the simple fact that their actions do not reflect my own. I have spent five years in Azkaban because of the fact that my house was viewed, quite rightfully on occasion, as purely evil without people being aware of my own beliefs and situation. And on a larger scale I believe that it has become common for the judgement of people without listening or taking into account other factors as we base them purely on whether they are muggle-born or pure-blooded, Sacred Twenty-Eight or not, dark or light and even along the grounds of houses that we were divided into when we were eleven. The divides of the past half decade have caused deep rifts in our society that I feel need to be addressed, we ostracise and accept based on name and teach our children and heirs to do the same. Magic is magic and I fear that we have lost the truth of this in our attempts to hide the failures of the past decade.

War has pushed us apart and I now call for unification, we are the leaders of magical world yet we sit and quarrel about policies and laws that hide the fact that there are still deep rooted problems that exist because of our intolerance for others and have little idea how to address them. Voldermort, or whatever his real name was, should have taught us a lesson, instead we stand in fear behind names, such as 'He-Who-Must-Be-Named', thus exacerbating the fear that is inherent within our society and continue to teach our children and heirs the same. Some of us were branded like cattle, entire lines have died out and many were killed, that is in the past and all of us were effected in some way. I do not ask people to forget nor even to forgive, for I know that I will never so do, however I do ask that we work past the fear and intolerance that has defined the past. We can continue to be stuck in the past or we can work for the betterment of the Ministry and magical society in general. In preparation for rejoining this council, I reviewed every single policy that passed through here. Out of the three hundred and ninety eight bills that were debated here in the past five years, two hundred and forty six passed, of those twenty eight were related to subjugating werewolves, eight seven were on the reclassification of magic types, fifteen were on ministry pay, two were on turning the Potters' house into an official memorial, thirteen were on the relationship with the ICW, two were on the control of cauldron bottoms, forty one were on security, five concerned Knockturn Alley, four were on vampires, eighteen on goblins, one on the Quidditch World Cup bid. I ask now, do you believe that this was an effective use of five years worth of bills and debates or do you believe that all these have been simply an attempt to at least appear functional to a public recovering from war?"

With that Sirius stepped back slightly but continued to stand upon the dais that he had once sat chained only five months before and waited for a reaction. It came first from Madame Longbottom, regent of House Longbottom, who stood and started to slowly applaud in Sirius direction. She was followed by Lord Greengrass from the dark block, then Lord Abbot from the neutral block. Soon, the applause was deafening as those in the gallery too applauded the speech. Cameras flashed and Sirius slightly inclined his head. Sirius knew his speech was to put a niffler in a goldpile, whilst he had made some of his beliefs clear in his speech, he had essentially left himself, and his votes, open, he had told the world that he would vote on item by item, not be a generalisation of the Wizengamot blocks.

* * *

 _ **Lord Black takes his seat with the Wizengamot and asks for change**_

 _The story of Lord Black has reported on a lot recently, but here comes the next chapter in this saga. Yesterday, Lord Black used the start of the new Wizengamot year to reenter the Great Chamber and take his seats. Surprising many, the Lord Black, who has also taken over regency for House Potter, sat himself in the neutral block, Black is traditionally a dark House whilst Potter a Light, perhaps to reference this difference, the new Lord choose a neutral seat._

 _His opening speech was a work of art and called for unity and change, this reporter looks forward very much to the debates that Lord Black will participate in the near future as they are likely to prove highly interesting and erudite._

 _Political analyst article about Lord Black speech- p.2_

 _For what Dumbledore has voted for using House Potter's seats- p.8_

 _The Ministry Bills Lord Black referenced- p.12-14_

 _Chief Warlock disrespects Lord Black- p.2_

* * *

Striding from Wisteria Lane onto Privet Drive, Dumbledore was annoyed. Everything had started going wrong and had been since Sirius Black had been freed. It was still a mystery as to how a trial had considered, let alone happened. Whilst the papers had got hold of the story that Black hadn't received a trial, it seemed unlikely that they actively went looking for the story. What made it worse was that now Black was back and had announced his neutrality and claimed the Potter seats, Dumbledore was down to only one seat from House Dumbledore when previously he had had five.

Reaching Number 4, Dumbledore was panicked to see a 'For Sale' sign on the gate. Walking up the path, the old man knocked on the door and could hear the echoing throughout the house.

"Excuse me?"

Dumbledore was interrupted from his mini panic attack and turned to see a woman leaning over the next fence, "Yes ma'am"

"You wouldn't be trying to find the Dursley's would you?"

"Yes, do you know where they are?"

The woman looked quite delighted to gossip but a look of fake concern passed onto her face, "Were you a friend of theirs?"

"No, I was familiar with Petunia's sister?"

"Oh..." The woman was obviously loving the opportunity to get gossip, "Well, all the Dursley's were killed whilst on holiday in Italy, faulty wiring or something. Anyway, the police came and explained it all and the house was put up for sale two weeks ago, legalities meant it couldn't be sold earlier."

"Do you know whether they all died then, even the little girl, Harriet?"

"They certainly said they found three bodies, maybe they found the little girl's body too but I don't know. I am sorry for your loss though?" (She didn't sound sorry at all)

"As I said I didn't know them that well but thank you" Dumbledore said before striding back down the garden path, deep in thought. The Dursley's had been killed in Italy, maybe it was a coincidence that that was where Sirius Black had been seen in the few weeks after his trial. Oh, Dumbledore knew the Girl-Who-Lived was still alive, he had monitoring spells on her that told him she was still alive, but they were weakening with every day and he could not use them to find Harriet without her blood and he didn't have any of that to hand. Maybe it would be best to challenge Black at the next Wizengamot meeting to see whether he was aware of where Harriet was.

* * *

Sirius sighed as he and Heidi worked through the missives he had received since his entrance to the Wizengamot. Many were pandering, sycophantic letters trying to get fanour, interviews and meetings, all those went straight into the fire. The rest were a mixture of invitations and greetings cards, most of them were very dull to say the least, why ever anyone thought he would want to go Hippogriff racing with the Minister for Magic, he would never know. Stretching slightly, he turned to watch his mate as she worked through her own pile of correspondence. Soon he would be changed by Sanguini so that he would become immortal and live with Heidi forever, the problem with wizards becoming vampires was that magic wasn't meant to be attached to one person forever. Magic was an organic and alive concept and when someone died, their magic returned to the ground, living together disrupted this cycle and whilst in turning to become a muggle vampire, the magic returned to its source, the loss of magic often turned people mad. Becoming a magical vampire at least allowed for some of the magic to remain behind as they weren't technically immortal. Soon Sirius would become a magical vampire and whilst some part of him would regret losing the majority of his magic, he could then be with Heidi for so much longer.

Heidi looked up to see her mate staring at her with a sappy face that made her snort slightly, disturbing him from whatever train of thought he had boarded. He shook himself slightly before chuckling slightly at the sight of his mate looking at him with one eyebrow raised in question.

"Sirius, we have work to do, now, do you want to go to this party? It may be useful as it is in the Italian season. If I was under a glamour, I could come and scare off all the scary women and Hattie can come?"

The Italian season was part of an unofficial calendar that the European magical nobility followed, throughout the year the nobility traveled to their houses abroad to house parties and meet local dignitaries and friends. It was a time for the children to meet others abroad, for teenagers to become engaged and for adults to show off and gossip. The Italian season came at the start of January, the British over the summer solstice, the French over the spring equinox, Russian in May, Greece in August, and many others beside. Thinking about it, Sirius could see the intelligence of Heidi's idea, it would allow him to meet with other nobility in Italy and Europe and due to the Hogwarts start of term, there would be few British nobility there, thus allowing him some proper time to mingle without being asked about his beliefs on magical classifications or something. Moreover, taking Hattie would allow her to meet some children her own age, Jane and Alec may be the youngest in terms of physical age but they were a thousand years older than Hattie herself and Sirius would rather she meet some people her own age. It would also allow Sirius to show that he had guardianship of the Girl-Who-Lived, for whilst Dumbledore had not acted yet, Sirius was sure it was only a matter of time before he started to make noise about Sirius regency of House Potter.

Sirius smirked as he looked at Heidi, "You can tell Caius that we are borrowing his niece to take to a party..." At that Heidi seemed for a moment to slightly rethink her idea as she considered telling the blonde king what they were planning to do.

* * *

The outburst that that little conversation caused made everyone glad that Hattie had chosen the more level headed Marcus as father rather than Caius who broke his throne whilst trying to make everyone see how much of a bad idea it would be to take the little witch out of their protection even for just a night.

Two days later though, Sirius stood in the throne room in his black dress robes stoically ignoring the glares from Caius and some other members of the guard who still believed something was going to happen Hattie, seriously, he had just managed to persuade them he wasn't about to run off with his goddaughter before they find another reason to mistrust them. He turned in time to see his mate push open the door with holding hands with Harriet. Heidi wore an off the shoulder white and gold floor length Grecian style gown and was glamoured to appear human with large blue eyes, while Hattie wore a dress by Nicki Macfarlane called 'Mirabelle' in a iridescent blue that contrasted her dark hair that had been left to flow down to the small of her back. Approaching them, Sirius gently kissed the hand of his mate before picking Hattie up and giving her a kiss on the cheek. Marcus smiled at this daughter before pulling out a jewellery case from his pocket, opening it he revealed a necklace with a black sapphire on it.

"This is for you Hattie, I found it when I was a very new vampire and I have kept it for two thousand years, Dora and Pica helped me have it mounted for you...Do you like it?"

Hattie's only response was a garbled thank you as she hugged her father. He in turn pulled the dark stone on it silver mount out of the box and carefully placed it around her neck. He received another hug in return which he ended after a few seconds saying, "Right now, you need to go. Be good and have fun, it will be good for you to meet new people. We will see you when you get back" as he gently pushed her towards Sirius and Heidi.

"Come on pup" Sirius said as he picked Hattie up, "We need to take a portkey so I will hold you"

Together the three placed their hands on the engraved invitation and within seconds felt the jerk in their stomachs as the portkey activated.

The party was in Paestum, in the south of Italy and hosted by the Aucciello family who Sirius had met through his Uncle Alphard before he had died, since the pictures of Sirius had been taken of him in the Forum Magicae he had received several invitations to their soirees but this was the first he had accepted. The three arrived in the arcade of a typical Italian villa, in the courtyard the house was built around, a single olive tree grew. Their perusal of the settings was interrupted by the appearance of a man.

"Sir, may I please see your invitation?" the footman asked

"Certainly, here you are." Sirius said as he handed over the card, seeing the name on the card matched who had arrived, the footman gestured with a small bow over to a pair of open double doors which they started towards.

"Wait a minute." Sirius asked, "Hattie, I know you are taking Italian lessons but are you going to be alright in there or shall I put a translation charm on you, everyone will be speaking Italian in there."

The raven haired girl thought for a moment, "Could you put one on me, just in case, I don't want to offend anyone accidentally?"

Heidi cooed slightly, "You could never offend anyone Hattie but it is a good idea."

Within moments the charm was in place and the three entered the door. After Sirius had given their names to the caller, they waited until they would be allowed to enter.

"Presenting Lord Sirius Orion Black, Miss Heidi Volturi and Miss Harriet Potter, Heiress to Houses Potter and Black"

Heads turned at the introduction for nearly all had heard of the miscarriage of justice that the Lord Black had been forced to endure, furthermore, this was his first foray into completely public territory, aside from at the Wizengamot and now he appeared with a woman on his left arm and his heiress, the girl who had apparently survived the Killing Curse, on his right. The small group were first approached by their host and hostess and whilst no-one would admit it, they were all listening to the greetings between the two parties.

"Lord Black, we are so glad that you came, I must say we were slightly surprised when you accepted." Marie Aucciello said as she gave her hand out to be kissed.

Sirius bowed over her hand, air kissing the back before straightening and shaking the hand of Lord Aucciello, "Lady Aucciello, I was reminded by the dear lady to my left that it was necessary to appear on public on occasion. Speaking of, may I introduce Miss Heidi Volturi and my heiress, Harriet Potter"

Both Heidi and Hattie curtsied slightly at the introduction with polite greetings exchanged, addressing Heidi, Lord Aucciello asked, "Are you Italian, your surname certainly is?"

Heidi chuckled slightly, the sound drawing eyes with its beauty, "I am Lord Aucciello, I am from Tusany and had the misfortune to meet Sirius, I mainly stay for Hattie."

Sirius pouted at that, "So not true, I am awesome that is why, Hattie is just a bonus..."

The entire group chuckled slightly at Sirius pout before the Lady Aucciello turned to Hattie, "Miss Potter, I am so glad to see you in wizarding society, no-one knew where you were and it worried us greatly."

"Thank you for your concern Lady Aucciello, after Siri was freed we met and we now live together." Hattie said, eyes wide and a bright smile on her face as she reached up to grasp Sirius hand once more. Heidi was chuckling on the inside, they had taught Hattie well how to avoid giving out information without giving away any unnecessary information and it was needed now as it was clear that people wanted to know about Hattie's life after the vanquishing of Voldemort.

"You are adorable" Lady Aucciello muttered slightly under her breath almost unaware she had said it out loud, she then addressed the group as a whole, "Shall we introduce you to some people?"

"We came here to mingle, so mingle we shall!" Sirius said with his typical charming smile.

Forty minutes later and Sirius was regretting that statement, he had been asked about British politics more times than he cared for and their had been many sly questions about both Hattie and Heidi as people tried to fish for information. Sirius was well aware that pictures were likely to be in the morning papers across Europe of the reclusive Lord Black and even more reclusive Harriet Potter. Heidi was having a rather fun time, she did not often get to interact with large crowds in this manner and had spent much of the evening persuading people to impart information without ever giving much away herself, the ability to 'dazzle' people was incredible useful in situation like this.

Just as the three of them were about to escape outside for a breath of fresh air, they were once more approached by Lady Aucciello, "Lord Black and Miss Volturi, I was wondering whether you would permit me to introduce Harriet to the son of a friend of mine, actually why don't you all come, I know she would love to meet you?"

Internally sighing, Sirius nodded and followed his hostess through the party and through dancing couples to a part of the room that was slightly emptier than the others. Approaching a small group, Lady Aucciello said, "Lady Zabini, I brought someone who I thought you should meet. May I introduce the Lord Black, Miss Volturi and Miss Potter."

Rumours of Lady Zabini circulated society regularly, after all she was thirty one and was already on her fourth husband, the first had died in a broom accident and the others followed in rather suspicious circumstances leaving all the money to their bereaved widows whilst the son, Blaise came from the first marriage.

"Ahh, Lord Black, I was so glad to hear that you were freed last year" Lady Zabini said, she was a beautiful woman but compared to Heidi looked over finished, "I trust we shall see more of you after this?"

"I would hope so, however there is still a lot to do, accounts and properties left to fallow for five years do need more work than is perhaps expected." Sirius answered.

Lady Aucciello interrupted whatever the Lady Zabini was about to say, "I thought Blaise would like to meet Harriet, it can be dull when there are so many adults around, where is he?"

"Blaise is outside in the courtyard with some of the other children, shall we go and find them?"

"Certainly." Sirius said as he took Heidi's arm and Hattie's hand before following the two Ladies out of the hall and into the courtyard they had first arrived in. Under the olive tree, benches had been set out and a gaggle of children sat chatting gentility beneath.

"Blaise" Lady Zabini called. Soon, a dark haired boy wandered over to his mother, gracefully bowing to the assembled company.

"Mother, can I help you?" he asked.

"Yes, I was just speaking to Lord Black who brought his goddaughter, Harriet Potter. Lady Aucciello thought you might like to meet her and perhaps introduce her to your companions."

Blaise looked sharply at the dark haired girl who stood partly behind Lord Black, he like so many had been brought up on stories of Harriet Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived. Unlike some of his English friends, he did not worship per-say Harriet but he had read some of the story books that had been written about the girl.

"Miss Potter" Blaise said, bowing slightly, "I am Blaise Zabini, Scion of House Zabini, it is an honour to meet you."

Hattie moved from behind her godfather and offered her hand out to be kissed, "It is my pleasure Mr Zabini, I am Harriet Potter, Scion of House Potter and Black."

Having kissed her hand and received a dismissal, Blaise led Hattie over to the group under the tree who all turned to see the new arrival.

"May I introduce, Giovanni Zini, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass, Tracey Davis, Theodore Nott and Cormac McLaggen. Everyone, this is Harriet Potter."

Apart from McLaggen, no-one seemed to react with much other than a raised eyebrow, they were too well raised to fan-girl/fan-boy and so decided to observe the Girl-Who-Lived, after all, it was a good story to tell, being among the first to meet Harriet Potter for the first time in public.

* * *

Caius was not pacing, he really wasn't. He was just...patrolling the throne room and waiting for Hattie to come back. Marcus sat amused in his throne watching as his brother paced, remembering the blonde king's initial reaction to the idea of Harriet coming, it seemed like it was a completely different person in front of him. Sure, Caius could be a grumpy cow but if you wanted to make him stop, all that was needed was Hattie being brought in.

Speak of the devil (angel) and they shalt appear, as at that moment Heidi and Sirius, carrying a sleepy Hattie appeared in the middle of the throne room. The sound must have attracted the attention of members of the guard for they all appeared and looked slightly relieved seeing Hattie alive and unharmed.

"So how did it go?" Marcus asked

"Meh, these things are dull. Hattie did you have any fun?"

Hattie pulled her head off Sirius shoulder and rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, "I liked Blaise Zabini and the Greengrasses. Didn't like McLaggen, he was mean..."

There were growls around the room and Sirius felt some elaboration was needed before seventeen vampires marched off to find someone called McLaggen, "Why was he mean pup?"

"He was rude to everyone and very conceited" Harriet sniffed as she laid her head back on Sirius shoulder. The man was starting to walk out of the door to take her to her bed when Harriet spoke again, "Oh, and he said that I was going to marry him...I don't have to marry him do I?"

Sirius winced at that and walked out knowing that Caius was going to need a new throne in the morning and the guards would have researched everything they could about a nameless McLaggen within an hour.

* * *

The next morning, a yawning Sirius took a portkey back to England to attend his first full Wizengamot meeting. He was running a little on the late side so was able to pick up the morning paper before he entered the Ministry. Quickly walking through the hall and into the Great Chamber, Sirius sat in his seat in the neutral block. Scanning the paper, Sirius found on page three a picture from last night of himself, Heidi and Hattie, they really worked fast but it was a nice photo, maybe he should get a copy for Marcus.

Sirius was one of the last to enter the hall and the bell sounded as the doors shut about five minutes after he arrived. It was rather obvious from Dumbledore's behaviour that he was planning something, he had looked distinctly relieved when Sirius had arrived and occasionally took furtive looks back at him. The Lord Black shook his head slightly, it was going to be one of those days.

"Lords and Ladies of the Wizengamot, thank you for your presence and blessings on this council." Minister Fudge said, "Does anyone bring any issues to the Winzengamot or does anyone claim their seats?" Traditionally this was the time when grievances were aired publicly and Dumbledore had obviously chosen now as the time to act.

"I do, Minister"

"Chief Warlock, speak your case."

Dumbledore cleared his throat and looked around the assembled members, eyes twinkling, "Lords and ladies, yesterday we heard that Lord Black claimed his seats, I would never contest those however I do contest his regency of the Potter seats. Whilst officially he may be guardian of Harriet Potter, he has not brought her here to publicly show and declare himself her guardian, indeed no-one knows where she is. I ask that this body considers the validity of Lord Black's regency of the Potter seats."

Once the old man had finished, everyone turned to Sirius Black who was sitting leaning back in his chair, once more reading the paper having go the gist of the headmaster's argument within the first sentence. Deciding to play it up a little, Sirius didn't look up for a few more seconds until the Minister cleared his throat, looking up he made a show of being surprised.

"My apologies my lords and ladies. I was just looking at this charming photo from today's _Prophet._ Chief Warlock, I would have thought that someone in your position would read the papers every morning and so know that last night, I attended a party in Paestum with the goddaughter that you say no-one has ever seen. Indeed, I am sure that Lord Greengrass would confirm this as Harriet spent a fair potion of the night speaking with his daughters."

Heads turned to Lord Greengrass, "I can confirm Lord Black's words, my daughters' last night informed me that they had met the esteemed Girl-Who-Lived and were quite delighted with her company. There is a picture on page three of the paper I believe."

Grabbing a paper, the Minister looked at the photos which showed a little girl with a distinctive scar on her head, sighing deeply the Minister asked, "All those in favour of agreeing with the Chief Warlock and suspending Lord Black's regency of House Potter's seat until Harriet Potter is brought before us?"

The only hands that were raised were those on the left, those who followed Dumbledore almost fanatically but they numbered only eighteen seats.

"All those against." Looking down at the paper, Fudge smirked slightly, Dumbledore had lost considerably, "Fifty three against, case dismissed. Now does anyone bring anything worthwhile to the Wizengamot?"

* * *

 **Another chapter over, some of the characters like Zabini will continue to appear in the story as Hattie needs some friends her own age...**

 **Please review and tell me what you think and if you see any mistakes etc.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Sorry this took so long to update, I just came back from a research expedition in Italy but as I have to write up the report of over forty thousand words for next month, updates may be slightly more sporadic but I shall still aim to update at least once a week for each story.**

 **On a related note, when I logged into the site there were something like forty two private messages, I have tried to respond to as many as possible but if I missed a few, I apologise and please message me again if you have any questions etc.**

 **Black Manor is based on Waddesdon Manor, Oxfordshire, England, which is an amazing (if slightly bizarre) house, look it up, the ball room is an amalgamation of lots of different places though!**

 **Edward is Alice's mate, not Jasper.**

 **Disclaimer- I don't own anything...**

* * *

Chapter 13:

The next couple of months moved quickly in Volterra as Sirius settled into his new position as Lord Black and Hattie continued to learn and grow. A routine of such was so well established that the Volturi struggled to work out what life had been like before Harriet and Sirius. Hattie had lessons every morning and then after lunch she had basically free time to do whatever she wanted, whether it be gardening, painting or reading. There were a few...hiccups along the way. For instance when Aro decided that every well-brought up lady should be able to play a few instruments, namely the piano, violin and flute. The first was fine, the vampires could vaguely cope but the initial violin lessons practically drove the vampires to distractions. Having perfect hearing was all very well but there was something about a badly played violin to a vampire that was similar to a dog with a high-pitched whistle. It had got slightly better after a few weeks when Hattie's ear became more attuned to the pitch and cadence of the instrument but it was definitely not a happy few weeks and eventually Aro was forced to only teach Hattie when everyone else was outside the little witch's apartments.

Other little problems included the usual of Caius nearly burning down the entire kitchen when he tried to make some white chocolate and macadamia nut cookies he saw on the Food Network and the order of one and a half thousand Blood Pops getting lost in the post which resulted in Aro breaking his throne when he didn't get one. However, these were little things in the grand scheme of things so people didn't dwell.

Sirius sighed as he placed down another missive from Britain, it was now June and the buildup to the English season. He had received now thirty-seven invitations to parties in England for Harriet, Heidi and himself. Whilst Hattie was talked about frequently in papers, Heidi had, if possible, caused even more rumours and speculation, as no-one knew who she was it was perhaps expected that there would be a huge amount of interest in her, after all everyone wanted to know who had ensnared the new Lord Black and whilst some wished them well, others viciously attacked Heidi, seeing her as some sort of very temporary companion to put it nicely. Not that Heidi really cared, she found the whole thing rather funny and her aim was to irritate the stuck-up pure-bloods of Europe as much as possible by being essentially perfect.

Standing from the desk, Sirius walked out of the room that had become his office and headed down to the throne. Entering the room, he saw Aro Alec, Jane and Felix playing Monopoly, this game had been going on for the past five days, how they had managed to make it last that long, was not immediately obvious until you realised they had basically sellotaped four boards together, even to pass 'GO' once took some time as you were forced around the entire four boards. Monopoly was one of the few games that could be played apparently at Volterra, having incredible sight and vision meant poker was difficult as it was so easy to mark or count the cards; _Risk_ was banned apparently for some reason as was _Sorry_ and _Cluedo._

"Aro, where is Marcus?"

"In the library I think...HA! Felix, go to Jail!"

Leaving a pouting Felix and the obviously intense game, Sirius wandered to the library and found the object of his search half way up a ladder examining some old text.

"Good morning Sirius." Marcus said, looking up, "How are you?"

"I am well Marcus but I could do with some advice."

"Certainly, give me a second." A second was really all that Marcus needed to carefully place the ancient scroll away and descend the ladder back to floor level, "How can I help?"

Sirius sighed, "You know this how Season business, well it is the French season now and it has been 'suggested' by many that I should consider holding a summer ball. The other thing was about Hattie's classes, I know that she is being taught be basically everyone but I was thinking about a school-friend of mine who would make a brilliant tutor for magical theory."

Marcus looked interested, "Oh?"

"Remus Lupin, he is a werewolf but a born teacher. I have been meaning to get in touch with him but I needed time."

Marcus frowned, "A werewolf, you know the...difficulties we have with them, particularly Caius?"

"I know...But I don't really have the time to teach Hattie basic magic, most pureblood families hire a tutor for their children for some years before Hogwarts or whatever school they choose. Whilst I understand that werewolves and vampires don't get on I think it would be good for Hattie and Remmie."

Marcus sighed, "I shall think about it and speak to the others...it is true that we not managing to keep up with her learning speeds..." It had almost become a challenge to things to teach Hattie, for she went through books like Aro went through Disney DVDs.

Sirius looked at the king once more, "The other thing was I was wondering how animals respond to vampires?"

Marcus snorted, "If you are thinking about getting Hattie a kitten I am certain it would run away within seconds...they tend to stay away."

"I wasn't thinking kittens so much as a crup or a kneazle...As they are magical already, they may be more prepared to stick around. I thought we could visit a petshop to see whether either would cope with vampires."

"That could work," Marcus said, "It may be a nice birthday present for Hattie."

"Indeed...Anyway, I need to prepare for this damn ball if that is agreeable with you?"

"Definitely, it was good for Hattie to meet people her own age."

Sirius nodded and smirked, "Even if they do declare their intentions concerning her...?"

Marcus just rolled his eyes as he remembered the response of various members of the coven when Hattie talked about certain boys.

* * *

Black Manor had been shut up well before Sirius birth. Walburga and Orion Black had chosen to move into London to be closer to the Ministry and had only infrequently used the Manor for the occasional large party but Sirius could only remember two such parties in his entire childhood. Some six hundred acres of land surrounded the house itself, at least fifty of which were dedicated to the vast gardens and maze whilst the rest compromised of woodland and pasture for the abraxus, hippogryphs, thestrals and occasional unicorn who passed through. The warding system though was exceptional, second only to that of the Potter Manor in terms of private residences, eight hundred years of wards made for an impassable net, better even than the Fidealius charm that allowed the Paterfamilias to shut down the estate to the point that no-one could even use magic there and the house itself was big enough, with its forty or so bedrooms, to protect the entire House should the need arise. Tapped into the laylines, the manor was unplottable and inaccessible to practically everyone without invitation.

The house itself was rather bizarre, particularly for an English wizarding seat of power. Upon ascendancy to the title of Paterfamilias of House Black, one member of the family three centuries ago had decided to renovate and modernise the entirety of the manor, having very strong French connections (his mother was French and he had attended Beauxbatons) he designed a very French influenced building, drawing on many muggle buildings from that country as they were sure to provide a unique manor. With its high pitched roofs and large windows, it was as different from the old manor as possible but one of its most distinctive features was a vast ballroom. The ballroom when it was first used, split the 18th century wizarding elite, some loathed it, others loved it but all could agree it was an amazing feet of engineering and magic, almost surpassing the Great Hall at Hogwarts.

Based on the Hall of Mirrors in Versailles, the room was over 30ft tall with floor-to-ceiling windows on three sides that opened into the formal parterres and gardens, gilt figurines and decorations ornamenting and complementing the glass and white walls. Around the edge of the wall was a gallery which allowed guests to look down onto the dancers and up to the vaulted ceiling of the room which showed scenes from the great love stories of the world all of which moved, they ranged from the fairy-stories such as Snow White and Cinderella to muggle stories such as Romeo and Juliet, although few would know them as such. The entire room was seeped in magic and it was a strictly guarded secret as to how it was made, the chandeliers were suspended magically and the candle flames, when lit, took on the shape of dancers, there was no need for any musicians as music swelled from the very polished floor on which they danced, in tune with the wishes and needs of the dance. The gilt figures of animals that decorated the windows all moved too, from snakes to bears, there were apparently over eight hundred different species depicted, although no-one had ever bothered to count.

Few now had ever seen the ballroom in all its glory, Orion and Walburga had stopped their large scale entertainment here when the war had started and it had been left to five house-elves to maintain the entire manor for the past forty years or so.

Entering it, Sirius could feel the innate magic of the room swell beneath his feet and with a flick of his wand, all eight thousand candles burst into brilliant flame. He smiled, he knew that any invitation that said that the Black party was being held at Black Manor was going to cause a furor in the receiver, many had heard of the ballroom after all. Turning Sirius spotted an awestruck Hattie and Heidi who had just entered the room.

Flinging his arms wide, Sirius asked, "What do you think? It is something, don't you think?"

"That is a damn understatement" Heidi said as she looked to her side at a gilt bear decoration wandering along the door frame, "How many people did you invite, you need a huge amount to fill this place?"

"I sent invitations to four hundred across Europe... Imagine what it looks like at night! We shall enter and amaze the guests with a spectacle never before seen..." Sirius said spreading his arms wide.

Heidi snorted, "You are too dramatic..." and then rolled her eyes as she saw her mate's pout.

"You say that like it is a bad thing...Hattie, Heidi is being mean..."

Hattie looked at her godfather then Heidi and then her godfather again, "I prefer Heidi so I will side with her..."

With that, Sirius started fake crying in the middle of the vast ballroom, slightly diluting the glamour and wonder of the place.

* * *

The night of the party arrived quickly and Sirius was almost bouncing, he loved parties and he had always wanted to see the ballroom full and being used for proper parties. Of the four hundred he had invited nearly all had accepted and according to the gossip column in the Prophet, it was believed to be the party of the season. Sirius had been careful to invite a single photographer and reporter, to not do so was considered unacceptable in polite society but at the same time, Sirius had ensured that the reporter and photographer were not going to destroy the atmosphere of the party nor the reputation of his House.

Standing by the great double doors, Sirius stood with Heidi and Harriet waiting for the guests to arrive from portkey and floo into the hall beyond. As each entered they were greeted by their hosts before making their way into the ballroom for drinks. It was a well established routine and allowed each guest to personally greet at least one of their hosts.

After half an hour or so meeting and greeting some of the great and good of British and European society, Sirius held out his hand to Heidi to start the traditional first dance. As a traditional waltz struck up the pair elegantly glided around the floor, drawing the eyes of all; one of the marvelous benefits of vampire reactions, Heidi decided, was the fact that dancing became rather easy as it was so easy to see her partners movements and reactions. After a few minutes they were joined by others and the ambient magic within the room swelled.

Hattie meanwhile, seeing her godfather and his mate about to start the first dance, left the entrance and walked further into the room to watch the effortless waltz. Once it had finished, she heard her name called to see Sirius coming towards her, Heidi on her arm.

"Hattie darling, come on, let us have a dance before we start the drab work of mingling."

A quick dance round the room with Hattie giggling profusely was followed by more meeting and greeting. As Sirius' heir and ward, Hattie was expected to follow the lead of Sirius. From Ogden, the firewhiskey producer, to Madame Longbottom, few had stayed away and Sirius spoke to as many as he could whilst Hattie tagged along, charming everyone with her adorable manner and talk. This continued until a family compromising of three approached the Lord Black and his heiress just as they had extracted themselves from a rather tedious conversation about beauty charms. Seeing the trio, Sirius almost groaned but stopped before he did so and instead put on his best congenial smile.

"Lord Malfoy, how are you?"

"I am well Lord Black, it is a wonderful party, so good to see Black Manor back to use once more." the blonde man said tapping his cane slightly against the floor of the room as he studiously avoided looking at Sirius, instead preferring to survey the dancers. Sirius however was not to be put off by his bad manners.

"Cissy! How the hell are you, you know, if you want a divorce from Luci, just say the words and it shall be done!"

"Oh be serious, cousin" Narcissa intoned before realising her mistake and groaning.

"I am always Sirius. Yayy, I love those jokes!"

Narcissa just sighed, "Sirius, may I introduce my son, Draco. He is the same age as Harriet."

Hattie looked at Draco like he was slightly crazy, "Hi, I am Hattie, would you like to come and meet some of the others our age with me?"

Draco looked at the small girl wearing the distinctly Gryffindor red dress with a small sneer despite his mother's warnings to treat Harriet Potter and her godfather well, "Certainly, I am sure I know all of them but I suppose it is necessary."

With that the two children slid into the crowd. Lucius turned to Sirius and looked him in the face for the first time.

"Lord Black...We must consider the future, a union between our two families..."

Here Sirius interrupted, "Shall not be discussed until such a time as both my goddaughter and your son are of an age to consider whether they are likely to hex each other every other minute. Now, Cissy! As your husband seems to have not taken the chance, would you like a spin round the floor?"

Narcissa Malfoy, nee Black, just rolled her eyes at her cousin's dramatics and placed her hand in his offered one. "One dance...that is it."

Four hours later Hattie, Sirius and Heidi stumbled to the floo to return to Volterra.

"How was the party then?" Marcus said looking up from his book to the group stepping out of the fireplace as he sat in Hattie's sitting room with the other kings and guards.

Sirius answered, "Lovely, maybe you should come next time."

Sulpica looked at the yawning girl who sat in her godfather's arms, "Did you have a nice time Hattie?"

"Yes I did Auntie Pica... Although Draco said he wanted to marry me..."

Sirius was quick to correct when he saw the vampires stiffen, "I think you will find it was his father who said that..."

There was a growl as Caius said, "Are you saying a grown-man wants to marry our Hattie?"

Sirius sighed, "No, Malfoy said he wants Draco to marry her."

"Ahaa, Malfoy" Caius said as he walked over to the Wizarding Genealogy book that sat on a nearby bookcase, a book that had various sticky notes placed in it with notes of allegiances, misdemeanors and slights against Hattie and Sirius. The vampires were careful to go through the wizarding papers to ensure they knew all the gossip and problems about certain families as well as whether or not they felt they were trustworthy. Sirius was certain that the Malfoy family was about to join the McLaggan boy in the 'List-of-people-not-to-leave-Hattie-alone-with'.

Sirius just rolled his eyes though as he carried Hattie out to her bedroom followed by a smirking Marcus.

* * *

 ** _House Black Ball_**

 _As the only reporter honoured to be allowed entrance into the House Black ball, I find myself in the rather delightful position of being able to be the only reporter to describe and relate the wonder that it was._

 _Much speculation and discussion was made over the choice of Black Manor for the location of the ball, which made up part of the British Season, few now have ever seen the ballroom and indeed manor there. It was beyond what has been described and was the perfect setting to the highlight of the season. A perfect mix of people allowed for a stupendous event that will, I am sure, be talked about for weeks.  
_

 _Once again the Lord Black attended with Heidi Volturi, who until recently was unknown in social circles, as well as his goddaughter, Harriet Potter who proved herself a worthy member of the society, well mannered and learned. Together the three made a wonderful sight and pictures and included below._

 _If Sirius Black is the catalyst for a new start in politics for Britain, then we must consider this ball as the_ _pièce de résistance_ _for the man. We look forward to his presence in the Wizengamot after it restarts from its summer break and we hope to see more of Lord Black and Harriet Potter in the wider British wizarding community very soon._

 _by Lyra Sommerville_

 _Photos on p.2-5_

 _Heidi Volturi- Nom de plume or obscure family?- p.6_

 _History of Black Manor-p.3_

* * *

Aro was still sulking about the fact that they had not yet been to Disney World come July. The other members of the coven had been subtly putting it off with excuses such as it was near Christmas, Wizengamot meetings, etc. Sirius really rather wanted to go though, he thought the idea of taking Hattie on a holiday was wonderful and Aro was rather pleased to have an ally in his attempts to go. So, with sighs and minor prayers to various deities, the coven agreed that a party would go to America to Disney World for another long weekend.

Like many vampires, Aro had a obsessive personality although he took it several steps further. Most vampires tended to find something to entertain them through their immortal life, these hobbies tended to change regularly, perhaps every decade or sometimes century, for instance Alec's interest in microbiology at present. Aro however, tended to change his interest every half year or so, this Disney fascination had interested him for a longer time than usual but all could see that it was waning and soon he may be fascinated by furniture restoration for the next six months.

So to mark the anniversary of Hattie's adoption into the Volturi a group compromising of Sanguini, Marcus, Aro, Pica, Alec, Jane, Heidi, Sirius, Felix and Demetri departed to America by private jet. Caius had decided that going to Disney World with Aro was likely to cause a world war so elected to stay in Volterra and plan a party for when they all returned.

Within one day, Marcus and Sanguini were rather wishing they had chosen to stay at Volterra rather than having to suffer another four days with Sirius and Aro in Disney World. If they thought Aro was bad in Disneyland, they had not anticipated the presence of Sirius who had decided to challenge Aro to a battle to ride as many rides as they could. Aro had taken the whole thing rather personally and whilst Sirius wandered around hand-in-hand with Heidi taking in the sites, he left the vampire king rushing around riding rides at every occasion. Mind you, Marcus considered, at least he wasn't irritating everyone else with his obsession, perhaps Sirius wasn't too annoying.

Three days later as they all sat in their suite, Hattie looked to her father. "Daddy…" Harriet intoned in the voice that she used when she wanted something, "As we are in America…can we go see the Cullens'?"

Marcus grinned as he heard the groans of the others vampires in the party. Ever since the Cullens' had left the members of the Guard (and Caius though he would deny it) had been attempting to stop Harriet from liking the Cullens, trying to dissuade her from wanting to visit them, although all their work hadn't seemed to pay off.

"Of course darling, it would be lovely if you could keep in touch with them..." Marcus said, ignoring the muttering of the other vampires.

* * *

Sitting in Forks' High School cafeteria, Rosalie, Emmett and Alice watched the surrounding humans. The day had been stressful, Edward had met his singer in Biology and Jasper had had to forcibly remove his brother from the school using his empathetic power and was now taking him up to Alaska. Alice sighed, her mate, Edward had been forced away because he had met his singer. What was worse was that she wasn't able to tell when he would be back yet, her visions blurred with something which made her even more nervous.

"Alice, it will be alright, okay. He will be back soon, they both will be." For once Rosalie was being nice, knowing the tugging that being away from one's mate entailed.

"I know…it is just a pain, I should have seen Isabella Swan was coming…"

Alice was interrupted as the door to the cafeteria opened and three people entered the room, the first was the school secretary, Miss. Cope, the other was a handsome man in his early thirties and the other a small girl who clasped the hand of the man. Looking around the girl obviously spotted who she wanted as she pointed at the Cullen table for her male companion, to surprise of everyone in the room.

"Rose…Emmie" the girl cried out in an English accent as she spotted the pair. Alice looked over in shock as she saw her two proxy siblings stand to meet the small girl who was happily skipping over.

"Hattie. Gosh, we weren't expecting you! How are you, sweetie?" Rosalie asked as she hugged the dark haired girl who was now quite happily sitting in Emmett's arms.

"We came to surprise you, Daddy and my uncles have gone to see Uncle Carlisle…. I wanted to come and see you."

"And we are glad you did, little one" Emmett said. The small group were obviously ignoring the surrounding mortals who watching the normally stoic Rosalie show some depth of emotion. They were all sure that more gossip would come from this whole thing than was helpful.

"Are you Alice? Emmie and Rose talked about you and I wanted to meet you..." Hattie said as she looked over Emmett's shoulder at the pixie vampire.

"Yes I am Alice, my siblings and parents talked about you a lot too."

Sirius approached and kissed Rosalie on both cheeks before shaking the hand of Emmett and then Alice.

"Rosalie, Emmett, Alice, I must apologise for this interruption but Hattie couldn't wait and proceeded to pout and use the puppy eyes (which I should, upon reflection, not have taught her) until I agreed. Maybe Marcus was right...I need to develop a backbone..."

"Where are the guards?" Emmett asked, well aware that where Hattie went, at least two guards followed.

"Outside in the car. What classes do you have this afternoon?"

Thinking quickly Rosalie said, "We only have one, so will be finished at three-thirty or so. Are you staying with us at home?"

"I don't know really, it was a sort of last minute decision. But the little one wanted to see your parents so I think we are going to head over to your place to see Esme."

"Well, we shall see you then Hattie, Sirius. We can have a proper chat then" Rosalie said

Hattie pouted as she slid from Emmett's arms, "Bye bye, see you later!" Hattie said as she grabbed her godfather's hand, "Come on Siri, we need to go see Esme!"

* * *

Two days later still found the Volturi with the Cullens'. Esme and Carlisle had been keen to have them to stay and whilst there were a few minor issues, such as the Volturi getting jealous over Esme's ability to cook for Hattie, it went, for the most part smoothly. They had chosen not to reveal the existence of magic to the Cullens' just yet, preferring that they were all there when they did so. But as it seemed unlikely that Edward was going to return before they left, it appeared it would have to wait for another visit. The main problem was Caius, who was still in Volterra was getting impatient, he had decided to plan a party to mark a year with Hattie living with them and he seemed rather excited for their return.

Returning from a hunt by himself that day, Carlisle's mobile rang, "Jasper", he almost yelled in relief having answered it.

"Hi Carlisle"

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes, Edward is going to stay for a week longer here in Alaska, just to think about life, I will be back in six hours or so depending on the traffic."

"Perfect, I shall speak to Alice and see whether she wants to join Edward. Just so you know we have some guests here, two of whom are human but they are aware of our situation as they are members of the Volturi."

"Oh really..." Carlisle could hear his adoptive son's confusion over the line, "Well it will be lovely to meet them when I get back then." With that the conversation ended and the good doctor returned to his house.

Seeing Esme sitting with the Volturi in the siting room, he called out to her, "Esme darling, Jasper will be home soon..."

He was interrupted from the rest of his statement by a loud "Yes" from Emmett who was smiling widely.

"What is it?" Alice asked

"Jasper is coming...and we have the Volturi here..." Emmett exclaimed in his normal loud voice.

"So?" Rosalie said looking at her mate with minor disdain.

"Paintball wars!"

Rosalie groaned, "Why the damn hell did you introduce him to that infernal game?"

Alec had cottoned on, "The Major...against us...fun, fun, fun... Do you have guns?"

Alice smiled, "Yup, Emmett brought twenty or so after they came back from Italy..."

Felix stood suddenly, "Right, Volturi team huddle, we need to start sorting tactics, this is it...the big one."

With that most of the younger generation of vampires (and Aro) left to prepare for what was certain to be Armageddon and Bedlam rolled into one. Left behind was Rosalie, Carlisle, Esme, Marcus and Hattie.

Marcus looked around, "This is not going to go well...by chance do you know of a very large area where we can set them loose?"

Carlisle stood, "I am going to get a map, we need boundaries..."

Hattie meanwhile looked up from her book, "Daddy...can I go call Caius?"

Marcus smiled at the small dark haired girl, "Of course, he would always love to speak to you, but why?"

"I just wanted to tell him you are playing paintball with the Major...he always said that he wanted to play with him..."

Marcus groaned, remembering Caius' minor hero worship of the Major, he was certain that Caius would likely arrive in half a day.

* * *

 **Hope you enjoy, review if you feel like doing so... If you see any mistakes or just want to give ideas, comments or anything, message me and I shall try to reply soon.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter nor Twilight**

* * *

Chapter 14:

Driving Edward's precious Volvo down the long drive back to his house, Jasper became aware rather quickly that something was wrong, the instinct of a soldier informed him that there wasn't something quite adding up. Shutting down the engine and reaching into the foot-well of the passenger seat, Jasper grabbed the handles of his weekend bag and stepped out of the car in front of the house. Taking a few steps towards the door, he suddenly felt the emotions of many vampires around the house. A mixture of excitement and anticipation (with a few undertones of condescension), basically it felt like the emotions that preceded the great finale of one of Emmett's pranks. And that was suspicious. Sniffing slightly, Jasper could smell the scents of many vampires, some he recognised, such as Emmett, Rosalie and the rest of his family, and some he did not, he supposed these were the Volturi who were apparently staying.

Ducking suddenly, Jasper missed a projectile by inches coming from the right and aimed at where his head had erst while been. Looking to his left, he saw a lurid paint splodge on the door of the garage. Immediately realising what was about to happen, Jasper went on the defensive, dropping his bag and realising that the best chance of survival seemed to be with those he knew, he dashed off to the left, where the smell of his family permeated. Crashing ten or so metres into the tree line Jasper came upon his family, all dressed in camo with paint adorning their faces and each carrying a rather large gun.

"Welcome back Major" Emmett said, a slightly crazed look in his eye as he reached behind him and grabbed another gun as well as a bag of what Jasper could see were paintball grenades, "What are your orders?"

"Emmett!" Jasper asked wide-eyes as he looked at his bear like brother, "What the hell? I come back and am promptly involved in some sort of infantile war?"

"Yes" Emmett said emphatically, "War is the right term. Now, we have the advantage of local knowledge, but they have strength in numbers as well as reinforcements, apparently another column will be heading up north from Seattle soon. What should our tactics be, Sir?" With that Emmett snapped a military salute (incorrectly of course) to his brother.

Said brother looked around at the other family members. Rosalie was picking dirt from her fingernails, Alice had her hair in some sort of showercap (who knew you could get one in military camo pattern) whilst Carlisle and Esme looked on with amusement.

"How many of them are there?" Jasper asked, realising this was one of those situations where it was just best to go with the flow.

"Nine at the moment but another four following up within two hours."

"Are there limits? I assume we aren't planning on playing vampire paintball on the road?"

"Fifty miles to the north, twenty to the east, ten to the south and two west." Carlisle answered

Their little strategy meeting was broken up by the voice of Aro drifting through the trees.

"Are we going to play or not? Major Whitlock now knows the rules..."

"Totally agree" Emmett called back as he cocked his gun dramatically, "Let's go Team Alpha!"

"Wait a second" Felix called out from the trees behind, "As leaders of the vampire world, we are totally Team Alpha, you can be Team Beta...or maybe Omega..."

There were sounds of agreement from the Volturi as Emmett vehemently disagreed, "I said it first so we are Team Alpha!"

"Can we just get on with this?" Carlisle asked with a slight disbelieving tone to his voice as the infantile argument started to escalate.

"Good idea!" Aro replied, "Volturi...evasive maneuvers in 3...2...1!"

Five hours later saw a group of paint covered vampires slowly meandering back to the rear of the house. Their once camouflaged clothes now torn and covered with paint such that it was impossible to tell their original state.

"Well that was fun!" Alice chirped as she pulled off her shower cap to reveal her paint-free hair.

"Of course it was fun for you." Rosalie muttered as she inspected her green tresses, "Telling the future helps mightily to avoid the damn paint..."

"Don't be jealous Rosalie" Alice intoned as she skipped around the corner to the front of the house, "AHHHHHH"

"ALICE" Carlisle yelled as he heard his daughter's scream and immediately started a charge to find the pixie vampire staring at a certain Volvo still parked out in the open in front of the house.

"Oops..." Emmett said as he looked at Edward's car.

"When did this happen?" Alice asked in mild hysterics.

"Bagsie not explaining it..." Jasper announced

"Agree" Rosalie added as she stood with her head tilted to one side as she looked at the car that seemed to be a cross between a Pollock painting and some sort of modern instillation sculpture.

Emmett wrinkled his nose, "I think it looks better this way...less...'preppy'."

"Oh sure Emmett, explain to Edward that was the reason we destroyed his damn car..." Carlisle said sarcastically as he considered the mess that was his son's car.

"I don't suppose there is any way we can get him a new car before he get back?" Esme asked

"Good idea, hang on, let me go check..." Carlisle replied as he headed inside to find a phone.

"Carlisle" Alice yelled, "You can't just pass of a new car as his old one..."

"Oh it will be fine" Rosalie answered, "So long as he has a car that is all that matters."

"Rosalie!" Alice exclaimed as the blonde vampire turned towards the house.

"I hope you know that you are going nowhere near my house in that state." Esme pointed out as her three children stepped towards the door.

"Noooo" Emmett singsonged innocently before he whispered to Rosalie, "That was the right answer, wasn't it?"

He got a glare in return from both his mate and his adoptive mother as the latter started to unwind the garden hose with a smirk on her face.

"I don't think that is really necessary..." Rosalie started to say taking a step back only to find herself with a mouthful of water as Esme turned the power-hose on full blast.

Soon each and every vampire who had participated in the great Paintball Fight of Washington found themselves drenched with water in an attempt to remove at least some of the paint. Once Esme had finished hosing everyone down she pulled a bag out of the bushes containing several dozen towels which she distributed to all and then 'suggested' (with threat of imminent pain if refused) that everyone removed their clothes and shoes before entering her house.

And so the vampire leaders, their guards and the group of Cullens' entered the entrance hall in towels and fearing to let a single drop of coloured water taint the clean lines and floors of the house.

"Daddy! Uncle Aro!" Came a voice drifting down the hall, followed by the pitter-patter of footsteps on the stained wooden floor boards. Soon the dark haired figure of Hattie skipped into the sitting room dressed in a long white nightdress with a blue dressing gown billowing behind her, "Siri said I could come and say night-night!" She was immediately picked up by an overprotective Aro who hated to see his niece's bare feet in contact with a potentially cold floor.

It was at that point that all the vampires heard a reverent whisper, "Mine..."

There was silence for a moment before everyone looked at Jasper who seemed not to notice, so absorbed was he in recording every feature and expression of the small human girl's face. He would follow her for eternity, try to learn everything about her, protect her from anything, it didn't matter what happened, he was hers as much as she was his.

And so the great Major of the Southern Vampire Wars meet his mate whilst dressed in only a towel with wet hair that still ran with pink and green paint.

Emmett, who at this point seemed allergic to sentiment decided to ruin the moment, "Good going bro! You are marrying up, she's a princess...Not bad." (He very swiftly received a kick in the shins from Alice, a smack over the head from Rosalie and a hit from his mother, as well as a whole host of glares from the Volturi.)

Aro stood with his mouth agape as he looked between his niece and the Major, "I don't know whether Caius will be enraged or fan-girling..."

"And why would Caius be enraged or fan-girling?" Came the distinct voice of the vampire in question from the front door as he arrived followed by the other Volturi.

"Aah" Marcus stated as he turned to see his blonde brother entering the house clearly not having heard the start of the conversation.

"Well..."

"Hello." Hattie said, interrupting whatever Aro's explanation was going to be as she looked at Jasper struggling slightly so that she might be let down from Aro's arms. When he seemed disinclined to allow her freedom, going so far as to hoick her further into his arms, she turned to face him, "Uncle Aro, can I be let down?"

After an expression of indecision flitted across Aro's face for a couple of seconds, the glare that Marcus gave him convinced him to let his niece down. Said niece then pottered over to Jasper.

"Hello." She repeated, "I am Hattie, my full name is Harriet Lily Dorea Potter-Volturi and I am eight years old." Jasper by this point was mush, his reaction was furthered when his little mate decided she should go to bed, "I need to go to bed now but can you tuck me in?"

Jasper was suddenly returned to reality by the growls of multiple vampires, Caius by this point had worked out the situation, "He is not going anywhere near Hattie's bedroom for at least two centuries."

Hearing this Hattie was upset, "But what if I want him to read me a story, or show him my dolls house?"

Marcus had had enough by this point, as someone who saw the bonds between people and who had suffered the loss of his mate knew that finding a mate should never be denied, seen as a bad thing nor undervalued. What was even better, was that Jasper was someone who could protect Hattie, his name was rightly still feared around the vampire world. The Volturi had encountered some of the vampires who survived the Southern Wars and when their memories were read by Aro, they showed a vampire who could fight better and lead better than anyone outside of the Volturi. Even without his empathetic gift he was strong, with it he was a force to be reckoned with. And for Marcus, he saw that Jasper would treat Hattie right, he could and would protect her and love her, she would want for nothing as he would look after her as only he could. Marcus was fully prepared to ensure that his brothers' did not come between the pair. Sure he would never allow a physical relationship to exist between them but it was not as though Hattie would see Jasper as anything more than a friend until she was matured.

"Right, Jasper, if you would be so kind as to take Hattie up to bed and Pica will accompany you and show you where everything is. The rest of you, into the sitting room and sit down!"

He was interrupted by a squeak from Harriet, "Are you Jasper Whitlock?" Receiving a nod, she got even more excited, "Uncle Caius talks about you all the time...did you really kill a hundred and fifty newborns in under fifteen minutes on your own?"

Jasper looked rather panicked for a second, likely trying to decide whether this was normal behaviour for an eight year old and indeed whether he should answer, however his choice was made for him when Marcus spoke. "Hattie! You have already stayed up late, why doesn't Jasper take you to find Sirius and go to bed so you can speak in the morning."

The little girl pouted for a minute before sighing dramatically and grasping the hand of her new friend, "Come on Jasper, come meet Uncle Siri!" The vampire followed as instructed although he cast a wary look back at Marcus to gauge his reaction. As soon as the pair had left the room there was a cacophony of voices overlaying each other in their musical tones, many of whom addressed a distinctly unimpressed Marcus who was quick to stifle protests.

"If any of you value your tongues you will hold them!" Regaining silence he continued, "Yes I am well aware that this is a less than perfect outcome however really is may be for the best. Think about it Caius, Hattie now has one of the strongest vampires in the world prepared to look after her with all he is. She is now safer than ever and we should not and cannot complain, feel free to threaten him if he breaks her heart but trust that he is not likely to do so even before you threaten him. Now, grow up and accept that Hattie will grow up too and I shall not begrudge the fact that she has found her mate in a vampire rather than one of her own kind. If you excuse me, I am going to say goodnight to my _daughter,_ whilst you can consider everything and work out how you are going to explain to the Cullens about Sirius' and Hattie's alternative abilities."

There was silence for a moment after Marcus left before Aro looked at Caius, "Why do I feel that Marcus got the better end of the deal?"

"That is because he did, now we get to explain to that lot over there" Caius said, gesturing with his head to the group of Cullen's who stood, unsure of whether they were going to be assaulted by some irate Volturi, ...that dragons, mermaids, giants and goddamn unicorns exist."

* * *

Twenty minutes later Marcus returned having had to partially drag Jasper from Hattie's room as he seemed content to stand guard over her all night. They returned to find a rather smug group of Volturi looking down at the Cullens' who were torn between horror and shock, all except perhaps Emmett who was in the middle of a rather long list of questions.

"...giants? So they have these societies hidden within the world, who wave wands and wear dresses. How many are there? And they can fly on broomsticks and have a sport of essentially a cross between dodge ball, rugby and 'I spy' whilst flying fifty feet up in the air? Wait! Important questions first...Can I eat a dragon...?"

Jasper sighed, having heard from Marcus about his mate's situation, "Emmett!"

"What? It is legitimate question. My list of 'Animals to eat (and/or wrestle) before I die' has just expanded rapidly. I mean come on... apparently trolls exist..."

Here Marcus interrupted before Emmett could go on extolling the virtues of the creatures of the animal world, "If you wish we shall introduce you to the Prince of the magical vampire, Sanguini, who I am sure would love a hunting partner although you would most certainly not be hunting dragons as they are protected by nearly every magical governmental system in the world."

Esme whimpered slightly, "Why on earth did you just offer that, we will never see Emmett now?"

Emmett however appeared unconcerned, "It'll be fine, don't worry... I would worry more about never seeing Jazz."

"Ahh yes." Caius said, turning to Jasper who froze slightly, "The mate..."

The Major of the Southern Wars looked around to see a group of Volturi looking at him, all still wrapped in their towels. There were very few sympathetic faces in the crowd and indeed Emmett was close to giggling like a little child with excitement whilst Alice, Esme and Rosalie all smirked him knowingly.

"I think" Aro stated, "That we should go and have a nice little conversation Jasper, don't you?"

Jasper just nodded as he was led out of the house.

* * *

Sirius Black was in a panic, just a minor one. After all it was not as though he had made a mistake big enough to force him to disappear to Peru for the rest of his life. He would miss Heidi, but it was for the best. If Marcus didn't kill him then Jasper certainly would...or Caius...or Jane...or actually anyone. There was no choice. He was going to die over the fact that his oh-so-cute goddaughter had in an absolutely stupendous example of accidental magic turned herself into an animal. And because she wasn't a trained animagus so she couldn't damn well turn back and his goddaughter was stuck as a cub...

Sirius sat in the guest room of the Cullen's house looking at a little snow leopard cub, rather unsteady on her feet who was trying to get used to the experience of walking on four feet. To say it wasn't adorable would be a total lie but to say that it wasn't a minor problem would be another. He had tried as many spells as he could think, including animagus reversal spells to human-to-animal reversal transfiguration but it wasn't working and he was well aware that it would not be long before one of the vampires came to collect Hattie and instead found a damn snow leopard cub who was by now making little mewling sounds.

"Hattie? It is going to be fine" Sirius said, sitting on the floor in-front of the little cub, "Now I want you to imagine yourself human again." If he couldn't change her back, maybe she could change herself back. The main problem was that as the eight year old wasn't a trained animagus she had not been trained in how to control her body such that she became an animal or returned to a become human. Whilst her limited meditation and occulumency training could have helped to some extent but it wasn't enough apparently.

Ten minutes later and this still hadn't worked. Hearing the door open behind him, Sirius tensed and slowly turned around to see Marcus, Jasper, Rosalie and Emmett who were all staring at the cub sitting on the rug by the sofa.

"There is a very good explanation for this..." Sirius started, he then paused trying to think of what this 'very good explanation' was going to be.

"Sirius?" Rosalie asked slowly, not taking her eyes from the feline companion, "Where is Hattie and why on earth is there a snow leopard cub here?"

Marcus however immediately understood, "I think that Hattie _is_ the snow leopard cub. Right Sirius?"

Sirius nodded slowly as though slow gestures and actions would make him less of a target to irate vampires, "She wanted to try becoming an animal like I can but I can't change her back and she can't change herself back quite at this moment..."

"Awww" Emmett announced, looking at the little feline on the floor infront of him, "She makes a very sweet cub. Can I play with her?"

"Emmett!" Jasper exclaimed, apparently having processed the part where his mate was now an animal, "Hattie is not a human at this moment in time and all you can say is that she is 'sweet'?"

"Yup!" Emmett replied as Hattie started trying to clamber towards her mate lifting her legs high to avoid tripping over her toes and making occasional snuffling and mewling sounds as she tried to greet him.

"Hopefully someone doesn't eat her..." Sirius muttered before groaning as Jasper's face became even more panicked and he started looking around for any threats as he picked the little white cub up and gently cuddled her to his chest.

Marcus rubbed his temples, "How long is this going to last?"

"Errr..." Sirius considered, rubbing the back of his head with one hand as he watched Jasper inspect Harriet closely, "I am not sure, it is accidental magic and I can't work out how she managed it."

Jasper most definitely did not squeak, "You mean you don't know how to turn her back?" By now the poor Major was now subconsciously scratching his mate behind her ears as she purred contentedly in his arms.

"Not as such..." Sirius stated as he tried to subtly look for exits from the room.

By now all the other vampires in the house had worked out something was wrong and so they all piled into the room.

"Whatever is the matter?" Caius asked, "Where is Hattie?" The only explanation he received was four people pointing at the cub sitting, purring contentedly in Jasper's arms.

"Why is my niece a cat?" Caius said slowly, emphasising the last letter of the sentence.

"We don't quite know but we are working on it." Marcus said gently tapping the nose of his daughter with one finger who gazed at intensely before trying to gnaw at it ineffectively. "Alec get the phone and call Sanguini. He may have seen something of this ilk before."

Alec was quick to run from the room but returned within a minute baring a mobile that he offered to Marcus.

"Sanguini? Hello."

"So your daughter is now a cat Marcus?"

"Sanguini, we need help not jokes."

"Fine, fine. I have seen this before with witches with a creature inheritance, it isn't an anigmaus form it is just an animal she can naturally turn into."

"And that is helpful because? We can't get her to turn back!"

Sanguini was unconcerned, "She will turn back in time and eventually learn some control over it. It'll be fine."

Naturally all the vampires in the room had heard the conversation and Jasper in particular wasn't too happy with the news, "You mean you don't know how to turn her back?"

Everyone could almost hear Sanguini's smirk over the phone, "So this must be the mate? I take it you have been...encouraged towards good behaviour?" Jasper's growl only made Saguini laugh, "Fear not Major, I shall tease you no longer for I fear that would put me in Hattie's bad books. I would get used to Hattie turning into a little feline, it is as natural for her as it is a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, at least be grateful it is happening now when she is safe and protected. Now I am afraid I must go, it is a petitioners day for us. Oh, and my father still desires to meet Hattie. I suggest organising a time to come and visit us here. Actually bring along the Major, he is well known to us and I know has some fans amongst men and women alike here. Ciao ciao."

With that he hung up leaving a group of slightly irritated Volturi, some confused Cullens' and a snow leopard cub still sitting in her mate's arms.

"That was the prince of vampires?" Emmett asked breaking the silence, slightly in awe, "He sounds awesome. Is his father the king?"

Demetri sighed, "Yes. Drakul is the king of magical vampires at the moment..."

"WAIT!" Emmett exclaimed, "Drakul?"

Marcus just sighed and considered whether his life could get any more complicated.

After a good two hours of pouncing on trailed pieces of ribbon and the occasional hand, Hattie fell asleep on Jasper's lap once more and just over an hour later returned to her normal form. She continued to sleep, curled up against her mate's chest for another two hours before waking rather hungry.

* * *

"Aro...Aro? Whatever is the matter with you?" Marcus asked as he entered the drawing room with Caius to find his normally jovial brother sitting in an armchair in partial darkness.

"I am just thinking..." Aro replied, twirling a fountain pen between his pale fingers.

"Care to tell us what about, it is rather disconcerting when you are this serious." Marcus said as both he and Caius lowered themselves into arm chairs.

Aro huffed, "Fine, what is a wand made of?"

"You already know the answer to that. Why are you asking us?" Caius answered curtly.

"Please? I want to see if you can get the same idea as me."

Marcus sighed, "Fine, wood and a magical core."

"Right." Aro said, standing and starting to pace around the room, "What kind of cores?"

Caius rolled his eyes, "Dragon heartstrings, unicorn hair, phoenix feathers, kneazle whiskers, selkie, niffler, veela hair... basically anything magical."

"Right... Now what is made of wood, catgut or sheep intestine and horsehair?"

Almost instantaneously both the kings realised what they were being asked to connect, "Violins... Do you really think...?"

Aro was back to excited self now, "How are they any different...? Wands are made by bonding wood and a core as well as adding runes and magically binding them. What is to say that we can not do that with a violin, use a wood for the body, dragon heartstrings for the strings and then unicorn hair for the bow strings? What would it do?"

"Aro, mayhaps we should experiment and speak to Sanguini and the goblins before we get too excited but I agree that it is a sound theory and an interesting quandary." Marcus said, trying to curb Aro's excitement slightly but at the same trying to hide his own.

Caius was equally interested, "Marcus is right, brother my. I am impressed though. Shall we go and speak to Sanguini?" the blonde king asked as he stood and left the room followed by Aro.

This left Marcus sitting in the drawing room alone until he was disturbed by an exhausted owl fluttering in through one of the large curtain windows to land on the back of a nearby sofa. Quick to retrieve the letter, the king tore it open upon seeing the Gringotts' seal emblazoned upon it.

 _Dear King Marcus,_

 _At our last meeting we discovered the existence of the soul fragment within your daughter. Whilst we cannot tell you that we have found a way to solve the problem some of the Elders wished to meet Harriet and perform some tests, we believe we may have found one ritual strong enough to counter the soul fragment but we have no desire to be wrong._

 _Yours faithfully,_

 _Ragnok, Chief of the Goblin Clans_

"Sirius!" Marcus yelled as he reread the letter with fervor. "Come here and read this!"

There was a yelp from Sirius who came racing into the room and grabbed the parchment from the king's hands.

"Marcus, we need to think about the future now." Sirius said, running his hand through his hair as he slumped back into his chair, "We need to think about how we manage life, whilst Hattie is safe at the moment, we cannot guarantee that at all, as soon as she goes to school, wherever that is, she will be subject to scrutiny, enemies and sycophants."

"You are right." Marcus sighed, looking at his clasped hands, "There are too many unknowns."

Sirius huffed, "I mean for a start, we need to ensure that she can manage her empathetic abilities. She is going to be in a school with a load of teenagers... We know that Hattie struggles when people aren't content, it unbalances her, what happens when she is in a room with a group of boys lusting after someone or her?"

"Apart from ensure they never so much look at her again? I don't know." Marcus groaned, "Do you think Jasper could help? He must be used to it."

Sirius looked up, "I hadn't thought of that... I feel we should step up on the training though, did you speak to the others about Remus Lupin?"

Marcus nodded slowly, "As you can imagine they weren't...happy but for Hattie they would just about be prepared to kiss a werewolf if it helped her. There are conditions though, such as the wolf not being anywhere near Hattie two days either side of the full moon."

"I would expect nothing less...I shall write to the goblins and ask them to contact him for me, he went off grid I am told after that Halloween but I expect that for a price an address might just suddenly magically appear from the goblins for the man."

"Agreed, I was wondering whether it may be a good idea to find Hattie a friend, not just someone she meets at the smart parties and functions, but someone who she can trust who is her own age? She needs friends more than acquaintances at the moment."

"That is probably for the best, otherwise we may end up with a precocious little girl, just on the right side of spoiled who lacks any knowledge about how to play and interact with people her own age. That is always the problem with the magical world, unlike in the muggle world where children are children, the magical nobility treats them as little adults. Certainly when I was a child, I was more likely to have been introduced to allies rather than friends, I wonder whether it would have been different if there was someone I could have trusted completely other than James and Remy."

Marcus sighed understanding Sirius' wondering thoughts, "We cannot change the past but we can change the future. Are there any who you would think Hattie would get on well with? You have seen her interact with children at the parties you have attended."

Sirius looked contemplatively at the paper still in his grasp, huffing slightly he answered, "I can't really think of anyone who would suit her as a true friend, Hattie got on with many of them but there is too much politicking for my liking. Outside of those children, the only people I could think of are my second cousin, Nymphodora Tonks, but she is several years older, and Neville Longbottom, he is the same age as Hattie and from a traditionally neutral family, although not in recent years, more light orientated. His parents are in hospital long-term after torture by Death Eaters. He is being raised by his grandmother, a rather...formidable woman but one who I think highly of. The best thing about the Longbottoms are they are Friends of the Line to the House Potter."

Marcus reflected on what Sirius had said. Friends of the Line was one of the strongest bonds between families or houses that could be invoked by magic. They implied an equality to the relationship where one house was not subservient to the other, unlike some other bonds between family implied that there was a stronger or more powerful in the group, for instance the Goyle and Crabbe families who had a Line Bond to House Malfoy, in return for protection they were essentially at the beck and call of the Malfoys. But a Friend of the Line was better, more long-lasting and infinitely stronger. Remembering the books of wizarding nobility, Marcus recalled that the Longbottom/Potter bond had existed for nigh on four centuries, originally starting after a a member of the Potter family was saved by a Longbottom from the witch trials under James VI of Scotland and the I of England, the following generation saw a Longbottom saved by a Potter during a dragon attack.

"It is a good idea." Marcus stated, "But do you know what he is like? I don't think it would be a worthwhile relationship to foster unless they are likely to appreciate each other's company."

Sirius shook his head, "Never met the chap, he has the same birthday as Hattie though, or maybe the day before, can't quite remember. Should I write to Madame Longbottom and request the company of herself and her grandson in the next few weeks?"

Marcus nodded emphatically, "Yes. Apart from this Longbottom scion, is there anyone else you would consider?"

"Not off the top of my head. There are some like the Weasleys' who are too close to Dumbledore. I shall think about it though but in the mean time I shall write to the Longbottoms. Start small and all that. It is unlikely that we would be able to hide you and your fellow vampires if this goes to plan so we need as few people as possible to start with."

Marcus sighed, "You are probably right. Anyway, I need to go and see where Hattie is, the last I saw of her was her being coerced into trying on dresses with the female Cullens."

"When was that?"

"Four hours ago... Maybe more. I am a terrible father."

Sirius laughed, "Knowing Harriet she is probably loving the attention, now you go rescue your daughter and I go rescue her enthralling social life."

* * *

 ** _Lord Black and Harriet Potter spotted in America_**

 _The pair are quickly becoming some of the most well-traveled nobles of our time, s_ _o far the pair, often accompanied by Heidi Volturi, have been sighted throughout Europe but this is the first time they have been seen further afield. This reporter looks forward to hearing whether a new trend will result from this sojourn to the Americas within Europe, after all where Lord Black visits tend to become fashionable very quickly._

 _They were seen entering the Magical Congress of the Unites States of America early yesterday morning and were later shown out by the American President of Magic, Lionel Aurum, himself. It is unknown whether the visit was purely social but it is believed that the pair will be attending a garden party with the renowned Curos family from the American state of Maryland. Our dear Girl-Who-Lived, Harriet Potter will be, I am sure, the star of the party, many who have met her have commented on her absolutely impeccable behaviour and dignity in the face of her fame. She will celebrate her ninth birthday in the coming weeks and we here at the Prophet wish her all the best in her coming year. It is expected that we will see her in two years time at Hogwarts and we look forward to this time._

 _In the next few months it will be a year since the trial and release of Sirius Black, to mark this occasion the_ Prophet _will run a special long article to look at the impact of the trial, Sirius Black and the newly revived House Black in the last year._

* * *

It was bound to happen Marcus mused in a minor panic. It had to happen, but why now? Why not in two, three years time? Why? Why? Why? The vampire king was generally fine with the whole 'being-a-father' thing but this had caught him a little unawares. The rest of the room was split between complete silence whilst the other was muffling chuckles as they watched the interaction between himself and his daughter. His little eight year old daughter who had just asked what 'sexy' was.

Marcus cleared his throat carefully, "Where did you hear that word?"

Hattie tilted her head to the side as she looked at her adoptive father, "Uncle Caius said it. He said that Auntie Dora looked 'sexy'." Immediately glares were leveled at a blonde king who was trying to slowly merge into the wall behind him, Hattie though was not going to let her question go unanswered, "So what does it mean?"

"It means..." Marcus started before pausing to consider how best to answer without having to answer a load of further questions, "It means to look good for someone special."

"Ohhhh" Hattie answered looking thoughtful, all the vampires sighed with relief, thinking that this particular conversation was over for now but alas, it was not to be, "So I should look 'sexy' for Jasper?"

Chaos ensued.

* * *

 **My Beta has unfortunately been unable to help me with this chapter so please read and review, I would love to hear what other people thought about this chapter.**


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15:

Jasper was more than a little aware he was about as popular as chicken pox on a toddler at Christmas. The only exceptions to this were Marcus and Harriet really, as even his own siblings had decided that they would side with the Volturi's princess than their own brother. This did not actually bother him as much as he would have thought, after all it meant that his siblings and parents approved of his mate and so she was better protected. What he did not appreciate was the fact that he was watched closer than a hawk watching an innocent little mouse by the majority of the household. It wasn't as though it was just when he was near Hattie either, even when he went hunting or to school he was watched as though he may have some lover secreted in town or in the woods. Sure, he was aware that they were judging his suitability but seriously, suddenly looking out of the window in class to see the cloaked figure of Felix was bloody terrifying. Not that he would ever admit it of course, he was the Major of the South, not some mincing moron, he had therefore taken several steps to ensure that this was never discovered, including avoiding letting Aro touch his hand. It was easy to fool Edward as all he had to do was think about how cute Hattie was and he would huff and declare that he preferred thoughts about massacring vampires rather than what he termed the 'pathetic ramblings of an infatuated idiot'.

It was however true that Hattie had become his favourite topic and focus over the past week that he had known her. She was as sweet as it was possible to be and just as innocent. The minor hero worship that she had developed of him due to Caius apparently using his life as bedtime stories, was adorable and slightly embarrassing too actually, she was quite happy to curl up on his lap and listen to him speak about the past. Normally these sessions would end whenever someone came into the room and Harriet was moved two metres away despite the fact that she would pout and try to move closer to someone. Apparently this need for human contact stemmed from her treatment at the hands of her aunt and uncle, all Jasper could say on that was that they should be glad they were dead already as he was a dab hand at torture and prolonged deaths. At least now though she had found the Volturi and her godfather to look after her, Jasper could only be grateful that his little mate had survived to meet him so he could protect her for all eternity. Jasper groaned slightly, Sirius was a topic that he didn't like to think about as it tended to cause bad memories, his protectiveness of Harriet was wonderful, really it was, he just wished it wasn't directed at him.

 _Flashback:_

 _"WHAT?"_

 _"Sirius, please calm down, this type of stress isn't good for you." Marcus commented from his seat by the window._

 _"'Calm down'. 'Calm down'" Sirius enunciated carefully, "I won't calm down until my little pup is unmated and that blonde thing is out."_

 _"Sirius!" Marcus said with a warning tone, "that 'blonde thing' won't harm Hattie..."_

 _The vampire in question was nodding profusely from his position in the corner of the room but Sirius was quick to turn on him, "You had better not hurt her or else I shall find my family grimore..."_

 _The threat went unfinished as Emmett asked in a sotto voice (for him) "What is a grimore?"_

 _Everyone was a little concerned by the maniacal grin that appeared on Sirius face, "Think big-ass book of spells I would be very keen to try out on vampires. There are wonderful spells for castration...maybe I should try out one now, just to prevent anything happening in the future...?"_

 _Emmett smiled painfully, a little scared by the thought, "Well thank you for clarifying that for me."_

 _Marcus rolled his eyes, "We didn't do that to you when you mated with Heidi so why should you do that to Jasper?"_

 _"Because we are adults, Hattie is a eight year old angel who needs to be protected and loved and cherished and spoiled and..."_

 _"And you don't think that Jasper would do that for her too?"_

 _"Of course not! Does he know what hot chocolate she likes? No! What her favourite book is? No! Her favourite subject? No! Her..."_

 _Here Sirius was interrupted by the king once more, "Well he can learn. Jasper! Here is a starter for ten, Hattie's favourite type of hot chocolate is Creme Brule Hot Chocolate from Whittards of London, her favourite book changes every week but at the moment is_ The White Horse _by Elizabeth Goudge and her favourite subject is history although music comes in a close second." Marcus turned once more to Sirius, "See now he knows, does that make him a better prospective mate?" As the only reply he got from Sirius was a grumble of irritation he continued, "So then it is fine that Jasper is Hattie's mate and you can stop acting like a toddler, Caius got over it quicker than you did! Now, you are going to spend an hour a day getting to know Jasper."_

 _Jasper, who was memorising the precious information about his mate suddenly froze as he heard Marcus' decree. "Is that strictly necessary?" He said ignoring the sniggers from his family but unable to ignore the demonic smirk that had appeared on the face of his future god-daddy-in-law as well as his emotions that screamed malicious excitement. "I mean we have a lifetime to get to know each other, no need to rush into it..."  
_

 _Sirius on the other hand was rather enthusiastic, "I think it is a wonderful idea, shall we start now? Come on Jasper, bonding time!"_

Jasper stopped the flow of memories, that hour spent in the company of a man who he was not convinced wasn't deranged, he would quite happily avoid ever thinking about ever. Ever. Ever. After all he had returned from that first hour speaking like the Dracula from any Hollywood movie, with a pair of fangs and his bedroom had been transformed into a crypt of sorts with a coffin where his really comfy reading chair once stood. Luckily Marcus had forced Sirius to remove the voice charm and the fangs but his room still resembled a dungeon. Actually Sirius presence explained why at present he was hiding in the attic of the house with a book, pretending he just wanted some peace and quiet rather than the fact he was terrified to be in the same room as the animagus.

* * *

As Jasper considered his new mate and family, Sirius strode towards the entrance of the Wizengamot with an even stride, the emergency meeting had been summoned quickly and so with barely an hour of warning, Sirius had donned his familial robes and regalia and taken a portkey back to London for eight in the morning. All he knew was that it was to do with a wizard breaking the Statute of Secrecy but the fact that it was a full trial implied that it was likely to be a rather major event. Entering the Chamber, he was not surprised to see it well over half full with some rather grumpy lord and ladies, unaccustomed to being summoned from their houses for eight in the morning with barely an hour to sort themselves. Taking his seat in the neutral block, Sirius surveyed the room. Since his investiture the neutral block had not really grown in size however that did not mean much, it was understandable that few families would suddenly alter their positions due to his move however there were changes. Some families had chosen to change their position in their block, for instance House Longbottom now sat as far towards the neutral block as was possible to be without straying from the Light side but Sirius was sure that in the next few months Regent Augusta Longbottom would start the charge into the neutral block. Forging a relationship between Heir Longbottom and Harriet would only speed up this process and Sirius had already seen Madame Longbottom carefully examine him when he had enter the chamber, likely due to the fact she had received his owl the previous morning and was considering his offer.

Sirius musings were interrupted by the arrival of a rather harried Minister Fudge, followed by a poor secretary carrying a entire tree worth of paper, why ever he had not decided to levitate the stack Sirius had no idea. Close on the Minister's heels came the dear Chief Warlock, garbed in the some rather lurid mint green robes that certainly deserved to be committed to Azkaban for crimes to Wizarding fashion alone. It was rather obvious that Fudge had obviously annoyed the bearded one in some way, judging from the death glares the back of his head was receiving, Sirius sighed, it was too early for politics.

"My Lords and Ladies," Minister Fudge started, "I can only apologise for the early start, unfortunately we would prefer to have this trial over and done with rather quickly. Bring in the accused!"

Two aurors pulled in a hunched form of a man, dressed in an oversize coat and distinctly unclean, he was quickly deposited on the chained chair.

"Are you Mungdungus Fletcher?"

"Yes." The man said, glaring at Fudge before glancing at Dumbledore who provided a reassuring smile which caused the convicted to sit up straighter in the chains

"You are accused with breaking the Statute of Secrecy by selling cursed magical items to muggles, resulting in the death of eighteen muggles. How do you plead?" There were mutterings at the charges, this wasn't just a case of a few muggles seeing someone apparate, Sirius frowned, having known Mungungus through the Order of the Phoenix he was well aware that the man would do anything for some change in his pockets.

"Not guilty, I didn't know them's were cursed!"

"Auror Kingsley, bring in the evidence." Madame Bones asked, rolling her eyes at Fletcher's answer. With a low bow Kingsley left for a minute before before returning levitating a box infront of him which he set down on the left of the platform before he removed each item and set them onto a table to be examined. The evidence consisted of a series of silver goblets, all of which seemed with innocuous enough except if you had magic and could sense the taint within them.

"Can I ask a member from each block to examine them?" Fudge asked, following the court protocol. Seeing Lord Greengrass stand from the Dark block and Lord Shafiq from the Light block, Sirius sighed and stood, descending the steps down to the platform. Each of the three lords approached the table and, using their wands, examined the goblets, checking for curses, charms or marks, this tended to be a formality in modern trials but stemmed from a time before the courts had been organised with the Chief Warlock and Minister at their head and to avoid charges of tampering. Finishing his evaluation, Sirius wrote on a piece of parchment the curses that he found before handing them to the Minister, once all three were completed they returned to their seats, each feeling rather shaken.

Fudge sighed before standing, "The Lords' Black, Greengrass and Shafiq are all in agreement, the goblets each have a curse upon them which cause the drinker's organs to slowly shut down within an hour."

"Mr Fletcher, were you aware that you were selling cursed items outside Charing Cross, London that were brought by a muggle who then used them at his dinner party that evening?"

"Na, I just wanted to sell them," the man answered, glancing at Dumbledore.

"Minister Fudge?" Auror Kingsley asked from his place at the platform side.

"Have you something to add, Auror?" Fudge asked.

"Yes Minister, we have examined reports and it was reported three days ago that someone fitting Fletcher's description tried to sell a witch a silver goblet in the Hog's Head. Whilst she could not describe the goblet well, she does report that she could feel the taint of them and therefore approached the Aurors once she parted company with the vendor. If they were the same it would mean that Fletcher had tried to sell them first in the magical world before the muggle world when he realised he could not sell them here."

Fudge was visibly angry, "Thank you Auror. Well Mr Fletcher? Anything to say?"

"It was a mistake. I didn't mean to kill them!" Fletcher cried out, looking for regularly to Dumbledore for help now that the trial seemed to be going less and less in his favour.

Sirius sighed before standing up to speak, "Mr Fletcher, it does not just matter that you caused the death of eighteen muggles, it matters that you thought selling any magical item in the muggle world would be fine, let alone trying to sell them in the magical world first. What makes it worse is that you decided to go and sell items that clearly hold dark magic, there is no way that you can not have known. You choose to risk everyone in this world to make a few coins in the magical world and we are lucky that they went no further than they already did. This cannot be defended and you deserve a harsh punishment for your crimes, I apparently killed twelve muggles and received a life time sentence in Azkaban, surely the crimes are similar?"

There were mutterings around the room before Lord Macmillan stood from the Light block, "Lord Black, you cannot really mean that?"

Sirius snorted, "My esteemed lords and ladies, muggles are not stupid, they have weapons that rival ours. There are six billion of them in the world. They have better surveillance now than ever. Their science had advanced more in the past century than at any other point in their history. They have made up for their lack of innate magic with other inventions. I do not say this to condemn nor praise muggles but to show that unless we crack down on the Statute it is likely that we will be discovered...and what will they do with us? Fear is a great motivator for violence, not that I am saying that they are likely to burn us at the stake any more, however wizards are taught to hate and fear muggles whilst muggles will fear what they cannot understand nor explain. I am not saying that so called 'muggleborns' are a danger to us, I am saying that we should not allow events like this to pass below us, standards cannot slip anymore. This case is an example of this."

Lord Malfoy stood, "Much as it grieves me to say this, I agree with the Lord Black. We need to set an example, an example that the Statute is not some sort of guideline created centuries ago for problems centuries ago. We have been...lapse in the past few years and I will not risk the safety of this community to excuse a man, who from his past records should have been in prison years ago. I, like Lord Black, call for a sentence of Azkaban."

"YOU CAN'T" Mundungus cried, "Dumbledore...tell them!"

"My lords and ladies" Dumbledore started, "You cannot expect to punish a man for trying to make a living..."

"Chief Warlock." Augusta Longbottom started as she stood from her seat, "Are you honestly saying we can excuse this man? What would have happened if they were not discovered, they would have killed more and more. That man has endangered us and killed innocents, your favouritism may exist at Hogwarts but here it holds no sway. I agree with the Lords' Black and Malfoy, Azkaban!"

Fudge interrupted whatever Dumbledore was going to say and called for the vote. "My Lords and Ladies, with each seat holding one vote would you please raise your wands for a verdict of innocent!" Three wands were raised including Dumbledore's. "With each seat holding one vote would you please raise your wands for a verdict of guilty resulting in a fixed term in Azkaban!" It was unanimous, as well over three quarters of the court raised their wands, including all the Dark block who were all to pleased at the chance to tweak Dumbledore's venerable beard. Fudge continued, "This court finds you, Mundungus Fletcher, guilty of murder with intent as well as breaking the Statute of Secrecy. As the law demands you will be taken to Azkaban for a minimum of twenty-five years, your wand will be snapped and if you survive the twenty-five years you will be subject to monitoring. Let this be an example, the Statue of Secrecy exists for a reason and infractions will be punished as will taking advantage of the muggle population. Take him away, straight to Azkaban."

There was applause as the man was lead out, struggling against the two aurors. Dumbledore stood quickly, trying to follow but was refused entry to the holding chambers at the back of the Wizengamot. Sirius smirked, another one of the Chief Warlock's flying monkeys disappearing, how long would it be before the man realised that his little machinations were doomed to fail.

"So Lord Black, you finally deign to communicate." Sirius was interrupted from his internal gloating by the sharp voice of Augusta Longbottom.

"Give me some credit, Madame Longbottom, I have had a lot to go in the past six months," he smirked.

"I am aware, sojourns to America take up so much time, add in the parties across Europe, it is a wonder that your political career exists at all."

"Has anyone ever told you that you have a tongue sharper than a sword?" The esteemed Lord Black asked.

The Dowager Longbottom sniffed, "Several times in fact. I shall take it as a compliment. Now, you were desirous to renew the bonds between my family and your god-daughter's?"

"Yes."

"Why? Why should we risk ourselves, my grandson is the last of his line so why should I allow the renewal of the Friend of the Line bonds? All it would take would be some irritating follower of the Dark Lord and my family ends, so tell me, why should I risk my family?"

Sirius found his brain working a bit to quickly considering how long he had been awake due to the time difference between America and Britain, "Because Hattie is the last of her own line and mine, I suppose they should stick together. Plus, I would rather my goddaughter did not fall in with the likes of the Weasleys' nor I suppose the Malfoys'. They need each other, I can honestly say I am not doing this for any political reasons other than trying to find Hattie friends without a political purpose to their relationship."

Madame Longbottom raised her eyebrows, "I have not been to Italy for a few decades, as you are busy prancing around the Americas' at the moment do inform me when you are back in Italy. We can meet in a neutral spot and see whether our scions are likely to be friends or merely acquaintances. I shall not tell Neville that the meeting is happening with the hope of renewing bonds eventually." She turned to leave before turning back, "Neville needs a friend, I expect that Miss Potter finds herself in the same position, if this works it may be great." With that she glided down the steps, vulture top hat swaying slightly as she left the room without glancing back. Sirius watched bemused, perhaps he shouldn't introduce Madame Longbottom to Marcus, the snark was strong with both of them, he hated to think how the resulting conversations would go.

* * *

Three hours later found Sirius standing in-front of Gringott's London holding a slip of parchment in barely trembling hands. After seven years he would finally see Remus once more. Taking a breath he strode into the white building and approached a counter, handing over the letter from Ragnok, inviting him to make use of a Gringott's meeting room for the initial talks between a probably irate werewolf and Sirius. Finding himself in need of another deep breath, the animagus had to pause, he wasn't used to feeling like this and he found it disconcerting. He had suspected Remus of being a traitor and had then seemingly betrayed him, causing the death of three of his friends, if that wasn't bad enough, Remus would have then been alone throughout all the full moons, throughout all the grieving period.

Following the goblin into the bowels of the building, Sirius was led to a pair of dark oak doors into one of the meeting rooms, it took him a few seconds to realise the goblin was talking, "Mr Lupin is here already. Someone will show you out when you have finished Lord Black." With that the goblin left, leaving Sirius a few more minutes to compose himself on his own before he entered the room. Twisting the door he pushed it open to see the werewolf standing beside the fireplace, his back to the door. He did not turn, preferring instead to stare into the flickering flames.

"Re..." Sirius voice cracked slightly and he was forced to clear his throat, "Remus?"

There was no answer for a minute before the man turned, even silhouetted against the flames it was possible to see Remus' tears, "Sirius." Despite the tears there was very little emotion in that single word and Sirius almost cracked."

"I...I cannot..." Sirius started before stopping, "Why the hell can't I say this?" He muttered to himself. "I know that I have caused you so much pain over the past seven years, so much pain. And I know that I did everything wrong and that we suspected you of being a traitor and then I went after Pettigrew and I..."

His meandering apologies were interrupted, "Sirius. I forgive you suspecting me, after all I believed you guilty for seven years."

The animagus however was on a roll with the apologies, "And I am sorry for failing you and leaving you...wait. You forgive me?"

Remus seemed to consider for a second, "I forgive you for that. What I do not forgive you for is being released for nearly eight months and not coming to visit me or telling me or writing to me or anything." Remus voice grew in pitch and volume as he spoke, "What do you think it was like for me to see one day in the papers you were free and then hoping that maybe, just maybe you would get in touch with me. I waited hoping, for a month, every day, that you would try to find me, instead I see pictures of you in the Wizengamot and with a woman and Harriet. Do you want to know how that feels? The fact that you had moved on, formed your own little family and forgotten about me!"

By now tears streamed down both their faces and Sirius collapsed to his knees, rubbing his face with his hands. "I..." He started, voice cracking, "I can't excuse that... I never forgot about you...ever but I didn't know where you were or whether you wanted to see me...and...and then suddenly the world seemed too big and I too small...You are right, I have been an absolute git and I cannot excuse myself nor expect you to excuse me..."

Remus leaned against the mantelpiece, his hands wiping away the tears that flowed as he saw his best friend and member of his pack on his knees stuttering out apologies. Now more than ever it was possible to see Sirius as the man he was, only in his mid twenties and not as the Lord who could speak in the Wizengamot and rally them together. Instead all Remus could see was a man who had been imprisoned before his twentieth birthday and who had been systematically tortured as a result. And so he stumbled over to the animagus and wrapped his too thin arms around his frame, the man stiffened at first before pulling the werewolf closer, relishing the contact after seven years.

They did not move for minutes, both enjoying the embrace. Sirius was first to shift, freeing himself from Remus' arms and pulling a linen handkerchief from his robe pocket and wiping his face, "What do you think Prongs would say if he saw us like this?"

"Call us sissies and ask us whether we were related to the Malfoy's I should think." Remus replied rubbing his face before Sirius pulled out another clean handkerchief and handing it to him.

"Probably right. I truly am sorry for everything, whilst I know it does not excuse me there are reasons that cannot explained here or by me that you will understand. But I have to ask, would you like to come and live with me in Italy with Hattie and the family who adopted her?"

Remus decided to avoid the question for now, "What family?"

"Dumbledore placed Hattie with the Dursley's, do you remember Petunia and her husband. She wasn't treated well but was eventually rescued by a family whilst on holiday in Italy, they are called the Volturi and are wonderful for her."

Remus growl at hearing about the treatment of his cub was halted by the name of the family, "Isn't Volturi the name of your new squeeze?"

"Heidi isn't a squeeze and I would beg you to not tell her any embarrassing stories about me...I fear that I may loose a limb. There are things about the family that I can't explain here and now but would you be willing to come and meet them and Hattie?"

Remus was silent for a minute as he considered. His life had been hard since the fall of Voldemort, suffering from the lose of his pack he had almost gone insane before realising that his focus should be on Hattie. If he could build a stable enough life maybe Dumbledore would allow her to live with him, or at least stay. And so he hard worked in both the muggle and magical world, scrapping a living where he could and saving as many pennies and knuts as he could. He could honestly say it was not a life but an existence and now he was being offered the chance to see Hattie and Sirius. It was obvious there was something rather large that was being withheld from him but he trusted Sirius enough to allow him his secrets for now.

Huffing a breath out, Remus answered, "Fine. Are you sure that the Volturi won't mind the fact that I am a werewolf?"

"Course not, I already spoke to them. Hang on...I have a werewolf to set on Jasper now!"

* * *

 **Quite a Sirius dominated chapter, hopefully the next one will involve Hattie more! As ever, tell me what you think. I have a couple of directions I could go from here so thoughts would be welcome: Do you want Remus to have a mate? Do you want Marcus to find a new mate? Neville should be introduced next chapter but is there anyone else you want to see? PM me or write a review if you have any thoughts!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer- I own neither Harry Potter nor Twilight.**

 **Peverell Castle is based on Dunnottar Castle, near Stonehaven, Scotland. It is an absolutely amazing place so look it up if you are interested whilst Potter Hall is based on Barrington Court.**

* * *

One week since he had found his mate, Jasper was just about ready to take her and hide her somewhere just so he could get away from her family. Why did he have to find a mate with a complete family? All his family had no-one but each other, however Hattie had fathers, uncles, aunts, cousins, godfathers and now an adopted Cullen family, therefore he had to deal with each of them to ensure that the Volturi didn't just decide to remove Hattie to their nigh impregnable castle and keep her there until she was of age. He sighed, he was being rather unfair to the Volturi, they had tried to be fair, the only one who still remained a major problem was Sirius Black who seemed to grow more intimidating with each passing day.

Sitting on the hammock at the edge of the woods, Jasper looked over to the terrace to see Hattie playing some sort of card game with Sirius, a game that occasionally exploded, much to Emmett's delight.

"Major?"

Jasper was shaken from his reverie by his future father-in-law approaching him, "Marcus, can I help you?"

"Not really. A piece of advice though, Sirius is at heart a prankster. If you want his respect then beat him at his own game."

Thinking deeply, the blonde could see the genius of the idea although a distinct problem too, "He is a wizard though, anything I can do, he can do better or bigger?"

Marcus snorted, "So? You can manipulate your emotions...He has a mate and appreciates her company just as any vampire does their own mate. You can cause hunger, thirst, anger, sadness, joy, madness, pain... He may have a wand but you can turn him insane without looking at him. On a side note, I need to have a longer chat with you soon but that can wait until you have turned Sirius into a whimpering mess on the kitchen floor." With that the king walked serenely away, Jasper staring at his retreating form.

"Jasper. Son?" Carlisle asked appearing at his side as he saw the Major's slightly stunned face.

"...Yes?"

"Are you alright, you seem slightly off?"

"Oh I am fine...just praying I never anger Marcus. He is an evil genius."

Carlisle laughed, "I know, everyone is always so intimidated by Caius they forget that Marcus is the brains behind the system, the oldest of them all. Now come on, you don't know how much longer you have before Harriet leaves for Italy, you may as well make use of the time."

* * *

Jasper had fun over the next few days pranking Sirius. Time and time again he would send a tiny wave of hunger towards the man. Sirius would then immediately go to find some food, upon reaching the kitchen or food Jasper would then cancel this emotion out, leaving Sirius wondering whether or not he was hungry. Occasionally he would send a wave of hunger, Sirius would then eat and then Jasper would manipulate his self-esteem so it was similar to that of a hormonal teenage girl, that is to say that a single comment would leave Sirius nearly crying as he was too fat or too ugly. Confusion was also a common emotion that Jasper would send to the man who still refused to alter his bedroom back to normal, Sirius would go to write a letter or speak to someone and then find himself forgetting what he was trying to do. Lust was emotion he could manipulate very effectively, cancelling out Heidi's when Sirius felt amorous and sending a small wave to Sirius at irritating times. He would keep the emotional changes so small and short that they were almost unnoticeable but together they had a rather large impact.

It took three days and eleven hours for Sirius to finally crack and he did so in style. Jasper had sent a wave of thirst to the man as they all sat on the terrace outside the house, he had promptly cancelled this when the man had reached the fridge. There was the sound of some rather explicit swear words and a thump, immediately there was an exodus of vampires off the terrace and into the kitchen to find the man lying on the floor.

"What the hell is wrong with me? What? Seriously?"

"Jasper?" Marcus asked looking at the man who lay on his stomach pounding his fists slowly onto the tiles of the floor in a tantrum of epic proportions, "I think it is time to stop repaying Sirius for all his jokes."

"Wait...that was the blonde thing doing that to me?"

"...Yes" the 'blonde thing' answered carefully.

"I thought you could just feel the emotions... You mean that you have been manipulating my emotions for three days? Making me feel happy...sad...confused...hungry...thirsty?"

"...Yes?" Jasper replied, unsure whether he should be running or staying to fight his patch. When Sirius took a while to reply he grew wary and ready to bolt should the wizard's wand appear in his hand.

"...That is so cool! Gods above. The amounts of pranks we could have played...that is amazing. We could have made old Sluggers feel drunk the entire time or Minnie dear feel happy. So many opportunities, can you come with me to the Wizengamot meetings, they would be so much more interesting if suddenly Lucy Malfoy felt aroused or Dumbledore was suddenly hysterically sad? So that's a plan."

"...Are you kidding?" Emmett asked, "All Jazzy had to do to make you like him was play a prank?"

"I don't like him per-say but it shows that he doesn't have a stick up his arse... Now I am intrigued, could you make someone feel high?"

* * *

That evening after Hattie had been put to bed the vampires all gathered in the sitting room.

"We have to return to Italy soon I am afraid, we have been gone for too long." Caius stated, aware how this may affect the Cullen coven.

Carlisle sighed, "We knew it was going to happen." He paused gathering his thoughts, "It will be difficult for Jasper but it needs to be done. Hattie will go to a wizarding school at some point so we may as well get them used to the separation now." He looked at his son who was standing with his back to the room, staring out of the room windows. Whilst vampires had definite mates, they could be separate although it would be distinctly uncomfortable. Vampiric nature verged constantly on animalistic and all emotions were enhanced, love tended to be extreme and possessive and there was an almost constant need for the dominant mate to ensure the other was safe.

Sirius chipped in here, "I have a present for you." He pulled a wooden box out from the bag that sat by his feet. Handing it to Carlisle when Jasper refused to approach him, Sirius sat back watching at the doctor opened it to reveal a small rectangular mirror. Seeing the confusion on the vampire's face he smirked as he pulled a matching mirror out of the bag. "They are communication mirrors, quite rare as to make them you need some rather specific items to make them. Think of them as similar to phones, only they are limited to the pair... If Jasper was to say Hattie's name into his mirror then he could speak and see her through her mirror. They used to belong to James Potter and I...detentions were so dull when we couldn't chat. I know it is not the same as seeing someone in person but unlike muggle phones they will work even within the Hogwarts or manor wards."

Jasper finally turned from the window, he had been worried about not being able to contact his mate when she was at school or in any magical place. Sure he could Skype or phone Hattie when she was at the Volturi Castle but not if she went to Black Manor or any of her magical properties. "Thank you," he muttered.

Marcus' eyes softened, "I know it will be difficult but I am sure that you can visit as much as you please. And Sirius and I have talked about Hattie coming over during the summer so that you can spend as much time with each other... Hattie owns a castle off the coast of Wales that you are welcome to stay in so that you can visit her there. Whether we like it or not you are now a member of the family and we shall not ruin your relationship with your mate."

Jasper huffed in relief, "Thank you. For everything."

Aro chipped in with a smile, "Well it is Hattie's birthday next week, she shall be nine. I am sure we can put off our return until after that, then we can celebrate that all together."

* * *

The Volturi were all rather glad to be back in Italy, they were far happier in their own territory rather than another coven's. Hattie wasn't very happy, she had had a lovely ninth birthday with the Volturi and the Cullens' but had then had to leave America. At least though she was able to speak to Jasper as often as she liked although the time zones were a little bit of a pain. She knew that Jasper was her mate and therefore knew that when she was grownup she would marry him and be like Uncle Aro and Aunt Pica or Siri and Heidi. It was rather strange being back home, Uncle Caius had complained for rather a long time that all her lessons had been disrupted and that her Latin had got far worse. However Siri had explained she was getting a new magical tutor soon who would come to live with them, apparently he was a werewolf. She missed Jasper, he was nice and kind and fun, it hurt slightly to be away from him, a slight throbbing in her chest but Sirius was certain that with time and occulmency practice this would fade.

* * *

 _3rd August_

 _Madame Longbottom,_

 _As promised, a letter informing you of our return to Italy. I was thinking whether it was better if we perhaps met in neutral territory? I had promised to take Hattie to Venice at some point soon, do you think Neville may enjoy a day there?_

 _As ever, your sincerely,_

 _Lord Black_

* * *

Standing in the Piazza San Marco of Venice with his goddaughter, Sirius was a little concerned about how this meeting may go. He had tried to not impact on her first impressions of the family and so had not mentioned his own friendship with the family nor her parents. After a reminder not to mention the Volturi, Harriet had been bundled into a warm coat and hat before being apparated to the city. Sirius smirked as he remembered the sulks of certain Volturi members when he told them that no-one was to follow, he was sure that if it was not for Jasper already mating with Hattie and Hattie having a puppy like adoration of the blonde, the Volturi would have followed to ensure that this new boy would not steal Hattie away. Seeing the stern form of Augusta Longbottom across the pigeon filled piazza Sirius stood up straighter, spying the boy who trailed after her, eyes wide as he beheld the remarkable surroundings.

"Madame Longbottom, Heir Longbottom." Sirius stated with a small bow to the former, "May I introduce the Heiress to the Houses of Potter and Black, Harriet Potter."

"Heiress Potter" Madame Longbottom stated as she cast an eye over Harriet's form, "It is a pleasure to have you once more in the community. My daughter-in-law was your godmother before she was indisposed, I knew your parents well, the wizarding world lost two wonderful people that day."

Hattie smiled, extending a hand to the dowager, "It is lovely to meet you, I am glad to meet someone who knew my parents." Gently shaking the hand of the elder, she turned to the latter Longbottom, "Heir Longbottom, I am happy to meet you." Extending her hand she received the customary kiss on the back from the rather chubby form of Neville.

"I...I am happy to make your acquaintance Heiress Potter." The slight stammer in his voice was noticeable but not too distracting.

"So Lord Black, what had you in mind for today?" Madame Longbottom asked as she looked between the suddenly shy figures of the two members of the younger generation.

"Well as we are so close I thought we may as well go to visit the wizarding community here for a start, the entrance is about five minutes away. Venice was a major centre of trade and the wizarding community here is rather varied, there is still a quite large Byzantine influence from when the city was under the rule of the Turks. Does that sound a start?"

Madame Longbottom nodded, "That sounds like a fine idea. I visited Constantinople once and the wizarding community there was a wonderful change. If you would lead the way Lord Black?"

* * *

Five hours later found Lord Black and the Dowager Longbottom watching their charges with a small amount of exasperation. Under Hattie's diligent chatterings Neville had come out of his shell and now it seemed that they were not likely to stop for a breath. It was at times like this that Sirius was grateful for Hattie's empathetic gift, she had been able to tell her new companion's dislikes and interests, hence why they were now talking a mile a minute about Mediterranean flora whilst sitting in one of the parks of the city. Standing a few metres from the youngsters Sirius turned to the older woman.

"I think this can be counted as a success, no?"

"I doubt that my grandson will stop talking now, I shall find him among the botany section in the library finding facts to impress his new friend... I am grateful though, I think they both needed someone." The last statements were said quieter as she considered her grandson.

"Everyone needs someone. But Hattie and Neville are in difficult positions and considering at the moment her school plans are in the air it is nice to know that she has someone in Britain she can trust, she did not take to Draco Malfoy too well."

"Well, I don't think that anyone with any taste or sense takes to Draco Malfoy, at least at the moment. What do you mean your goddaughter's school plans are up in the air?"

"Hattie was adopted before I was released from prison. She has a new father, two new uncles, two new aunts and a plethora of assorted familial members, I would never take away their right to choose for Hattie. Whilst I may think that going to Hogwarts would be useful for Hattie politically and socially even though it would mean entering Dumbledore's sphere, they are unsure."

"'Dumbledore's sphere', that is a rather polite way to put that. So what, home school her? Or send her to another school? I am afraid I know little about the other schools curriculum or entrance requirements, I know that most of them only accept students who live in their catchment areas."

"Beauxbatons my family has strong connection to because of the French relatives, as our permanent residence is technically in Italy it would be easy to get Hattie a place. It has a more ranging curriculum and some wonderful teachers, I believe the Flamels lecture there from time to time. Durmstrang is of course darker but I do not think that is necessary a bad thing as balance is needed in all things, I fear though what attending there may do for Harriet's reputation and I have heard talk that Igor Karkaroff will soon become the Headmaster. I could get Hattie in their using my name and hers but it is too remote, too difficult to access for my likes. Ilvermorny is an option that I am not adverse to looking into. America may be far away but it seems likely that Harriet could have the option of living in America soon, the curriculum is very neutral, perhaps due to the fact that the school is so unaffiliated with the politics of magic. Of course, there is the option of home schooling her, as she is so important I do not think that anyone would be too confused if I choose this, after all she will have House duties and I can legitimately say that I fear for her safety...all it would need is someone dropping an extra potion ingredient into her cauldron for there to be no more Girl-Who-Lived."

Augusta Longbottom raised an eyebrow, "I remember a boy who used to hate the thought of any responsibility, a boy who hated anything to do with dark magic politics, a boy who once turned my summerhouse pink in the middle of my garden party. A boy who has become a wonderful man. You should be proud, I know that Lily and James would have been both amazed and proud at your transformation and so grateful for how you raise their daughter. She is a credit to you, them and her adoptive family."

Blinking quickly Sirius quietly answered, "Thank you."

"I understand though where you come from, Hogwarts is a risk. You, like I, have a seat on the board there though, remember that before you make too many decisions."

Sirius groaned, "I forgot about that...why do I have so many things to do?"

"Appoint a proxy!" Madame Longbottom said rolling her eyes, "Whatever happened to that Lupin fellow, Frank forever went on about how clever he was, a 'born teacher' is what he said, surely he could help as proxy?"

Sirius snorted, "Who do you think is about to start tutoring Hattie? But you raise a fair point. Although getting him to agree would be about as hard as persuading the Bloody Baron to smile."

They were interrupted from their discussion by Hattie running over, Neville hot on her heels. "Siri? Can we get some gelato?"

Sirius rolled his eyes dramatically, "Of course, Neville, you have not lived until you have had some decent Italian ice cream. Now, shall we go to find some, my treat of course?"

* * *

As Harriet sat in his arms, Sirius resolved that the day had been a complete success, the two children had got on as well as phoenix on fire and they both seemed rather content with the arrangement. Sitting now in the sitting room in Volterra Castle surrounded by their vampires, he listened as Harriet talk about her new friend.

"...he is so nice and clever, he knows so much about plants. He promised to bring me a new book about Mediterranean plants when we next see each other. Siri? When can we see him again?"

"I don't know pup. It is August at the moment, the monthly Wizengamot session tends to be when all the heirs come to see how it works, Hogwarts starts in September so the Lords and Ladies tend to bring along their spawn in August. I shall owl Augusta and see how their month is lying at the moment."

"Can I come to the Wizengamot, please?" Harriet asked, turning in his lap to look up at her with huge green eyes.

"I don't know. It might not be safe and I will take you nowhere without your father's permission." As Hattie turned the huge eyes onto her father, Sirius found himself rather glad that Marcus was there, the king was at least able to say 'no' to the girl, he himself had no chance.

* * *

Off the coast of Wales, Peverell Castle had stood for nigh on a millennium, originally the seat of the Gryffindor family, the name had changed some time in the 13th century when the last of the Gryffindor's married into the Peverell family. Its situation was deeply defensive almost an island off the coast and only a small path to the mainland that was covered by every tide, and as far as Sirius recalled from conversations with the Potters' the number of people now living who had ever entered it could be counted on one hand, he himself had never visited the place. However, by the Tudor times, the Peverells' had become the Potter family and had chosen to move to England, leaving their remote castle in favour of Potter Hall, their house in Shropshire, the family pile serving as a retreat of sorts although even these visits became rarer and rarer over time. Their Tudor house had served until it was destroyed by Death Eaters when they attacked James' parents whilst they were in their last year at Hogwarts, it lay in smoldering ruins by the time the aurors arrived at the edge of the slowly crumbling wards. And so James, Lily and a newly born Harriet moved into the dowager house in Godric's Hollow, preferring the wizarding community and small space to the cavernous halls of the rarely visited castle.

Sirius had to say he would have done the same in their situation, what would they have done with the thirty bedroom castle? It wasn't as though they were expecting an attack until they prophecy was made after Hattie's birth, it was the perfect cottage and Sirius remembered it well, from the little log fires that they had made smores to help Remus after the full moon, to the small garden that Hattie had taken her first steps in (although they weren't supposed to tell Lily that they had seen her walking in the sitting room otherwise she would have been upset she missed them). Sirius smiled as he wandered the lane

Standing on the edge of the cliff Sirius looked down at the ground, scuffing away the long grass with his feet, trying to find a small ruby embedded into a piece of granite. Five minutes of searching unveiled the gem, no bigger than his thumbnail. Gleeful at his discovery Sirius wasted no time in cutting the palm of his hand with a knife and pressing his palm onto the stone, forcing his magic onto the stone closing his eyes as he did. Even aware as he was of the age and likely power of the wards that surrounded the castle, Sirius was shocked as he felt the earth shudder as though it sought to reshape itself beneath his feet. Once the power shocks had stopped the animagus opened one eye up and looked in front of him, where now the view off Pembrokeshire across the Irish Channel was disrupted by the rock that jutted out of the sea, connected only by a low narrow channel, atop the crag was the strong walls of the castle, undamaged and imposing they seemed to be part of the cliff itself. Releasing a breath, Sirius looked at the wards that he had just gained permission to enter, metres thick they were layer upon layer of pure magic, defending against natural disasters, man-made attacks and magic of all kinds. He now stood in the middle of them, the ward stone by his feet gleaming with the blood, he had given to prove his position as guardian of Harriet, and throbbing with the magic he had given to prove his good intentions.

Standing was difficult as the wards adjusted to his presence and unaware as he was of whether the wards would allow him to apparate (or just drop him in the sea) he resolved to walk to the gates) and so started towards the cliff face and the narrow path and steps down to the bottom of the cliff. Ten minutes later he found himself at the bottom of the drop and looked up, craning his neck up to look up the stairs that would take him up to the castle, he sighed and wished he had remembered to bring some chocolate. Realising he was starting to sound like Remus he rolled his eyes and continued on up the steps. Reaching the gates he stared at the thick oak wood for a moment, slightly unsure of how to go from there after all there was neither handle, lock nor hinge, he had only known how to find the ruby only because of the Potters' stories but they hadn't got as far as this. Looking at the wide stone gate posts as he scratched his chin, he spied another ruby, hidden level to where one may expect a handle. Pulling out the knife again he cut the palm of his other hand and placed it onto the red that shimmered against the granite. Hearing a metallic click he looked to the wood to see a burnished handle appearing and turning as the dark door swung open.

Unsure of what to expect Sirius drew his wand as he stowed his knife and magicked a bandage around his wounded left palm. Stepping under the lintel he entered the outer walls of the castle and into the courtyard, looking around carefully he spied the door to the main tower and he walked towards it. Hearing the sound of multiple house-elves appearing, Sirius span around to see the five bemused figures of the indentured elves.

"Master Sirius?"

Startled at being recognised the Lord Black looked carefully at the elves, "Teasel?" He asked recognising one, all the house elves had survived the attack and destruction of Potter Hall so it was only natural that they came to live and maintain the castle when their master and mistress had died.

A wide smile appeared on the elf, "Oh Master Sirius...We is so glad to be seeing you. Is Missie Hattie with Master Sirius, Teasel missed her little one."

The animagus smiled, Teazle had been the nanny elf for both James and later Hattie when her parents needed a hand, it would only be expected that she would miss her little charge, "Not at the moment Teasel. But I promise I shall bring her here as soon as I can. Can you introduce everyone else? I am afraid I can't remember their names."

Teasel beamed at the task and turned to the elves standing behind her who were almost vibrating with excitement, "This is Noddy and Polo and Whiskey and Lommy."

"Well, it is nice to meet you all again. I am afraid I can't stay long but I wanted to see how the castle was and check whether any of you were here. Hattie and I are living in Italy at the moment with some friends but we wanted to organise a base back in Britain. I know the castle hasn't been properly lived in for centuries but what state is everything in?"

If the elves were happy before they were now ecstatic at the thought of their family returning, there was a chorus of statements from the condition of the mattresses to the state of the accounts. Knowing that the elves could go on and on he decided to stop their ramblings.

"Right...right. Thank you. Now, I have a session with the Wizengamot in ten days time and was planning on taking Hattie with me that day. If we come in nine days time that should give you enough time to sort out everything, feel free to take anything from the vaults or order anything, we would like this to be a home, not just a house. Is that okay for everyone?"

There were shrieks of delight and over it all Sirius could hear Polo cry out, "Polo needs to start the dinner for his young mistress...Do yous think young mistress likes puddings like Master James did?"

Sirius smirked, "She loves puddings, particularly Lemon Meringue Pie and Treacle Tarts. I need to go now but I shall call if I need anything and will see you next Tuesday." With that he turned back to the outer gate knowing it was best to leave the elves to their work, he trusted Teasel who had been in the service for the Potter family as long as he could remember. Stepping out of the protective wall of the castle he looked behind him to see the door swing behind him and the handle, lock and hinges all vanish into the wood. Looking down the path and following it back up the opposite cliff he moaned slightly, he was so bringing a broom next time.

* * *

"You bring us news?" Came the crackling voice of an ancient being hidden in the shadows.

The figure in the centre of the room fell to his knees, trembling slightly.

"My Lords, I have news on the Volturi, the kings have left their fortress to the New World to visit a coven there...But there's more, they have taken in a human child. A female. They look after her and teach her."

There was a cackling that echoed off the dark, dripping stones, as two beings laughed vindictively.

"Stefan?"

"Brother?"

"It seems we have some plans to make and a little girl to find!"

The red-eyed vampire kneeling in the middle of the room shuddered slightly as the manical laughter echoed down the corridor as the two ancients left the hall, resolving to run when he could.

* * *

 **As ever tell me what you think, I have left the question of which school Hattie will attend quite open for now so if you have any thoughts please don't hesitate to PM me or leave a review.**

 **A/N. There is now a poll on my profile if you would like to make your opinions known!**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer- I own neither Harry Potter nor Twilight**

 **The hall for Peverell Castle is based on Haddon Hall's hall (which sounds rather weird...)**

* * *

The following day found Sirius standing in the Gringotts' branch in Rome waiting for Remus to appear, he paced in one of the private rooms in Gringotts' generally only used by employees' but due to his position, he had been allowed usage. Upon hearing the chime signalling an incoming porkey he moved to the edge of the room. A few seconds the windswept form of Remus appeared in the room clutching a slightly battered suitcase to his chest, a suitcase that Sirius recognised having given it to his friend at their graaduation. Walking forward he pulled the man in for a quick hug before pulling the suitcase out of his hands.

"Hello Remus. I take it the journey went well?"

He received a snort in return, "I still hate portkeys. I can carry my own bag you know?"

"I know...but the last time I held it was when I gave it to you so I felt the need to reminisce. Come on now, we have to apparate to Volterra."

"Where is Volterra?"

"Oh, it is about forty/fifty miles north-east of Florence. It is rather pretty. The weather should do you good, you are looking a bit peaky."

"Thank you, so kind of you to say so," was the sarcastic reply, they had reached the entrance hall of Gringotts' by now and Sirius waltzed out the grand entrance doors.

"Come on Remmie, I thought you may like to walk through the magical district of Rome before we left."

Looking around, Remus was in awe, he had never travelled to other magical cities, except to visit werewolf packs during the last war and he did not tend to visit the streets nor shops. And the main magical route in Rome was stunning, wide streets and classical buildings that were as different from the medieval narrow ways of Diagon Alley as it was possible to be.

"Careful Remmie!" Sirius said, "You are going to walk into a lamppost if you are not careful. We can come back here in the next few days, I am sure you will need some books and things once you have seen Hattie's lessons so far. You are going to love the Volturi library though...actually you and Marcus are going to be best friends...you know he helped found Hogwarts? He was a great friend of the Founders..."

"WHA..!" The rest of Remus' yell was cut off by Sirius grabbing his hand and apparating them both into the lower throne room of the Castle.

"Ahh Sirius, you are back. I take it this is Remus Lupin?" Marcus said, rising from his throne and approaching the pair.

"Yup. Marcus, Remus Lupin. Remmie, this is King Marcus of the Volturi." Sirius looked back at the werewolf who stood staring at the vampire king, mouth hanging open, "Remmie...? You in there still?"

"Founders... Hogwarts... You met the founders?" The werewolf stuttered out to the vampire king who stood looking rather bemused.

"...Yes. I met them whilst they were on the run, wonderful people all four of them!"

"Remmie is a big fan of the Founders." Sirius announced as he carefully closed Remus' open mouth with his finger. "I am sure that Marcus will talk to you about them if you wanted."

The king in question added on, "Of course, I have some letters we shared in my rooms somewhere too. You are welcome to look at them if you wished."

Sirius groaned, "I am never going to see him again. My best friend, betrays me for a set of letters..." He sighed dramatically, "At least I shall have Hattie, she won't ever leave me. Where is she actually, she needs to meet Remmie?"

Caius wandered over at this point, "I think she is just coming down now, you are a little earlier than we were expecting so she should just be finishing her French lessons."

"Remmie? Remus? Come on, focus now." Sirius said, clicking his fingers in his friend's face a few times, "This is Caius, another of the kings and that is Aro over there reading the book."

"It is an honour to meet you." Remus said, regaining his composure although he was still rather shaken, after all it was not every day you met someone who could recall a millennia ago.

"We are glad to have you, I am sure you know that letting a werewolf into our home is about as difficult as it is for you to come here."

Remus grimaced, it was true, even the walls seemed to permeated with the sickly, unnatural smell of the vampires who had made the castle their home for centuries, "I am sure that we will manage, I can put up some scent wards if it gets difficult for me or for you all."

Marcus nodded, "We are glad that you were found, from what we have been told you are capable of Sirius-wrangling, Heidi is the only one at the moment who is even vaguely capable."

"Heidi?" Remus asked curious.

"My mate!" Sirius answered always happy to talk about his mate, "She is lovely and beautiful and perfect and wonderful. You'll like her..."

Sirius was interrupted from a further exposition about the perfection that was Heidi Volturi by laughter from the door. Some came from the blonde vampire in question who looked as though she would blush if she could as she looked at her mate. However, Remus was immediately drawn to the laughter of the dark haired little girl who held the blonde's hand as she giggled at her godfather.

"Cub?" He muttered slightly

Sirius heard though, "Yes Remmie! This little thing is Hattie. My pup, your cub! Hattie, this is Remus Lupin who was friends with your father and I."

That caught Hattie's attention, "Really?" She asked, "Uncle Siri told me about you, are you really a werewolf?"

Remus blushed and looked down at his battered shoes, unwilling to see her reaction to his curse, "Yes."

Immediately Hattie's empathetic abilities honed in on his self-consciousness about his condition as well as more than a little amount of self-loathing, she frowned, "That's alright, my daddy is a vampire. Uncle Siri said you were very clever, can you help me with me lessons then?"

Marcus and Sirius exchanged glances smiling slightly, aware that Hattie had been drawn to Remus already and had decided he needed her help. It was interesting that she had decided to ask for help in her lessons and they assumed this was due to the fact that the poor man just wanted to be helpful and accepted, Hattie wanted to try to remove the negative feelings from the man and had almost unconsciously decided this was the easiest way. A quick glance at the werewolf showed that it was already worked, he looked almost about to cry as he looked at his little cub.

"That sounds wonderful."

Hattie smiled happily up to him before trotting over and grabbing the scarred and thin hand of the werewolf, "Come on, we made up a room for you, I can show you around. I was about to have some elevenses with Uncle Siri, would you like to have some treacle tart with us Uncle Remmie?" With that she gently led the distinctly startled man out of the room leaving ten or so amused vampires.

"That girl..." Caius started, "Could charm anyone. The more I think about it, the more I am rather glad she had a mate already."

"I wouldn't go that far." Sirius muttered as he headed towards the Drawing Room for coffee and treacle tart accompanied by Heidi who was still smiling at her mate's infatuation with her.

Once the kings had been once more left alone in their throne room Marcus turned to Aro and sighed. He had found a pile of books on wand core properties and symbolism, he was now completely engrossed and seemed to spend his time flicking between various tomes occasionally muttering to himself and noting down some scribbles on increasingly disorganised fragments of paper. If Marcus was not used to this happening every few centuries he would have been worried, Aro's quest to find out what would happen if you made a violin with magical components was an interesting theory and one that Marcus was quite prepared to help his brother with. In fact, he was quite happy Remus was here now as he was sure that the werewolf would have some interesting ideas about how best to make such an interesting and what may happen if one was created.

* * *

Remus Lupin had been forced to pinch himself as he was guided down the hallways of the vampires' lair. Not only had he met a friend of the Founders but he had also been accepted by his little cub who had immediately decided she rather liked him. Sure he was having to deal with the stark stench of the vampires but he was sure he could get used to that.

Within two days the pain and loneliness that he had experienced over the past seven years was almost forgotten so busy had he been. Whether it was teaching Hattie, who seemed happy and willing to learn anything, talking with the vampires or reading in their expansive library, he was never bored. He was not cold nor hungry nor worried about the next week, let alone the next month. The library had quickly become his favourite place in the castle, it reminded him so much of the library at Hogwarts that held so many happy memories for him. It also helped that the books and manuscripts there were amazing, as vampires had such fine control and almost no oils on their skins, the paper and vellum was not really damaged at all. He was therefore able to read the words of centuries gone by with ease.

After he had been filled in with all the information that he had missed, from Hattie's rather unexpected titles to the horcruxes to her mate he had been so filled with rage it had taken Marcus' rational lecture to calm him down (Sirius was all for joining him on his rampage). Once his rage had at last run its course he had immediately ran to check on his cub. His consciousness was more influenced by his wolf side than his human and when he had picked up Hattie he had spent a good five minutes checking she was fine. The raven haired girl did not protest and instead just giggled a bit as he returned to a more human level, once she was sure he was calm she picked up her book on the basics of transfiguration, pushing it towards him and asking him for help explaining the theory behind it.

And so as Remus stretched back in what was now his undeclared seat in the library, he sighed with contentment. He was happy and he was sure that when the full moon came in ten days he would be safe, secure and no danger to anyone, moreover Sirius was sure to ensure he had an adequate supply of chocolate to keep him happy.

* * *

A sight that had become frequent in the magical district of Rome was that of Sirius Black striding through their streets, more often than not surrounded with a group of cloaked figures. Therefore, few raised a brow when they saw the most powerful British Lord prowling into Gringott's with his entourage and holding the hand of a smaller figure that everyone presumed to be the Girl-Who-Lived. Without stopping the group headed behind the desk to the tunnels, led by a goblin who had quickly hopped down from his desk upon seeing them.

Three minutes later found them in the territories of Britain and in the office of three rather powerful goblins. Ragnok sat at his desk, flanked by the Managers of House Black and Potter accounts.

"Thank you for seeing us." Sirius stated with a slight bow, an action mimicked by Marcus, Remus, Hattie and the three guards that had accompanied them.

"I am sure this will be profitable for us all... Please, take a seat." Ragnok said, smirking slightly.

When everyone was settled in chairs (and Hattie in Marcus' lap), the Chief of the Goblin Clans received the undivided attention of the coven once more.

"There are quite a few details that we have to get through today so we should start before we waste too much time." Ragnok stated, as ever not beating around the bush. "We shall start with the finances as they are the least of our problems. Gripspur, if you would?"

The Manager of the Black accounts pushed some files across to Sirius which he opened and flicked through quickly, "Lord Black, at present your accounts are still recovering from the stagnation they have endured for the past five years or so. The short term investments have all been successful and we are now looking into some longer term ones, the file should have a page for instance on the Nimbus broom company which we believe should pay back within five years or so. If you could have a look through those possible investments we would, I am sure, find something to make a tidy profit. Some things that we wanted to check with you were whether or not you wished to buy up some shares for tactical purposes, these might not necessarily make money but may be prudent investments considering your place and the place of your ward."

Sirius looked up sharply, "You mean the Prophet." It was a simple statement and something he had already considered, the wizarding people were sheep so controlling the single paper that dominated their society that owning it was a clear way to influence the everyday person.

Gripspur met his eyes, "Not necessarily, there are other options that may be less controversial. The Prophet now have to announce their main financial backers and shareholders under the Ministry Regulation for Fair Trading, you being the main shareholder could be used against you. We were thinking of a smaller publication called the 'Quibbler'."

Frowning, Sirius thought back, "Never heard of it."

"I wouldn't have expected you to, it is written by the Xenophilius Lovegood, a mixture of research, conspiracy theories and political writings it is virtually unknown. But because it is unknown it is a blank slate so to speak, whilst Lovegood would not want to change much about the paper, if you invested now then you invested at the start, not just so you could control the press. It is a long-term investment and may never return financially but it would be less controversial than the other more popular paper."

Understanding where the goblin was coming from, Sirius did not want to disagree but nor was he wanting to make any sudden moves, "I shall research the paper, I remember Lovegood from school although he was in Ravenclaw and a few years ahead. Surely he is Lord Lovegood?"

"Not yet." Ragnok replied, "He has never claimed his seats, politics was never something that he was too concerned with. But take your time over that decision, we have time still. Anything else Ripspur?"

"Only the property left. You have already looked into Black Manor and taken this as the Home of House Black but your property in London at Grimmauld Place you haven't. Is this to be sold or retained?"

Sirius snorted, "That place will be cursed from its foundations to its chimney pots... I was hoping to avoid that blasted place but no-one can enter it without my permission, would it be possible to hire a couple of curse-breakers? I shall let them in and they can remove all the curses my dear 'mama' may have placed upon the place or the objects. Once it is clean then I shall make a decision, having a property in London would be useful but if that one isn't suitable then we can sell or let it and buy up somewhere else, it never was a good particularly good house, it was spread over too many floors and rather cramped."

"That would certainly be possible, if you could owl us with times we shall organise a group. That is everything then Gripspur. Bloodclaw? The same please."

"Potter accounts are in a similar state to the Black Accounts. We have sold quite a few shares in recent months and brought up some longer term ones, there is little point investing in shorter term ones at the moment as the Heiress Apparent isn't likely to be needing instantaneous cash. Gripspur and I are working together to try to spread the investments around between the Potter and Black families as all the vaults will eventually go to Miss. Potter, there are documents on companies like Firebolt that we are hoping to invest in with the Potter accounts. Property is a larger part of the Potter portfolio but nearly all properties are rented so they are providing a stable income, including some in Godric's Hollow, Hogsmead and some large tracts of farmland. Now as an heir is now going to Peverell Castle there may be some objects or caches that may present themselves and be worth examining as part of the Peverell or Gryffindor legacies. Basically when the Gryffindor family married into the Peverell then the assets changed hands as they did once more when the Peverells' became the Potters', this means that there is little inherited from these two titles. The Slytherin title was a right of conquest, until Lord Voldemort these vaults were emptied, squandered by the Gaunt family, the last descendants. What property there once was was also sold off, a single shack of sorts outside a small village in England is all that is left. Lord Voldemort accumulated some money that whilst not comparable to the wealth of the Potters' and Blacks' is not inconsiderable. What would you prefer to have done with this?"

Harriet was sitting in her seat frowning slightly, she turned to her godfather, "Uncle Siri?"

"Yes Pup?" Sirius asked looking down to Hattie who sat on her father.

"Can I pick what happens to the money?"

Sirius looked surprised for a second, "What do you want to do with it?"

Hattie looked down at her hands, "Well, I thought that Voldemort was maybe mean to lots of other people, then can't we give the money to charity to help those people. We have lots of money don't we?"

Here Marcus interrupted, "You want to give all the money to charity?"

Harriet frowned, "Wouldn't they want it?"

"I am sure they would. Ragnok?"

Ragnok considered the matter, losing that amount of money was not a catastrophe for Gringott's by any stretch of the imagination and if the gesture was done publicly then it would help the relationship between the Ministry and the Goblins, "I believe that it is a worthy cause. What about St Mungo's?"

"Is that the hospital?" Hattie asked, looking towards the goblin, upon receiving his nod she clapped her hands, "Oh, please can we give it to them?"

Marcus and Sirius looked to each other, knowing that the gesture would be worth a great deal to a great many people, Marcus spoke, "It is a lovely idea darling. And I am sure that they will be very grateful."

Sirius nodded in thanks as he accepted the Potter folder, "Thank you, I am grateful for your work on the accounts, I am sure they have been a challenge. We shall take your advice into consideration."

Ragnok nodded, "Now that the accounts are sorted, shall we talk about Miss Potter's mate?"

"Yes." Marcus said, "May I ask whether he is known to you? Jasper Whitlock?"

All three goblins cackled slightly, "The Major? Known to us? Our young are raised on stories of him. We are a battle race and he is one that we can respect."

"I am sure that is true." Sirius muttered, "We know that Hattie is going to come into a creature inheritance, will the fact she has a mate mean anything?"

Ragnok shook his head, "Not at all, but you are aware of the separation pains?"

"Yes. Hattie hasn't felt them nearly so much as Jasper."

"That is a simple matter of Jasper being a creature already and Hattie not yet. As she heads towards her inheritance the need to be near her mate will increase but that is still a few years off."

Sirius nodded, well aware that there were other things that needed to be discussed, he turned to his goddaughter, "Hattie, would you like to go and have some tea in the outer chamber?".

Frowning slightly, the little girl turned to her father, after receiving his nod, she walked out of the room, closely followed by Jane.

"Now, I believed we had more to discuss." Sirius stated, focusing on the three goblins.

Ragnok sighed, "Indeed, horcruxes. We have been looking at cleansing rituals that tend to be used on to remove possessions. Our Elders believe that there is one that is suitable however the problem is that we are unsure the extent to which the soul fragment has become embedded within Miss Potter's own consciousness."

Here Marcus asked, "How would this affect matters?"

The goblin sighed, "We don't know, worst case scenario it isn't just Voldemort's soul fragment that is cleansed."

"You mean that there is a chance that Hattie's consciousness will vanish?"

"Yes, as you know we believe this is not the only horcrux, we believe it would be necessary to find another horcrux and perform some tests on that before we attempt anything with the soul fragment in Miss Potter."

"How do you go about finding a soul fragment?" Marcus asked, leaning forward.

"We are not sure, they could be anything... a grain of sand, a piece of paper or a lock of hair."

Sirius snorted, "I may not have known Voldemort particular well but I doubt the ego of that man would allow him to make a grain of sand the container of his soul."

"That is what we believed. However, he would also have been paranoid and so not have just left them anywhere. We did check his vault to check there was nothing there but the majority of the vault contents was just gold and what wasn't we have separated out, there are some cursed items, that whilst not horcruxes, are dangerous."

"If those were left in a vault for now then we can add the cursed items from Grimmauld Place and then see what needs to be destroyed, sold or cleansed."

"There was also a rather large collection of books in the Voldemort vault, many of them valuable, some of them in Parseltongue and some of them highly dark. As I take it that you will be going through the library in your London property then perhaps we should do the same thing and you and some experts can go through them at a later point."

"That does seem to be the best idea. We can think about the horcrux situation when we find a way to find one." Marcus said as with a sigh he stood, "Ragnok, we cannot thank you enough for the help that you and the Clans have given us, we are truly grateful. Now, Sirius, to the castle I believe."

* * *

As the group appeared on the windswept Welsh coast, Sirius was the only one who could see the castle on its little island.

"Right, I am going to go and check whether the wards will kill you if you enter. I am not sure whether they will accept vampires or werewolves."

Marcus grinned, "I am sure they will, you forget I knew Godric, this place was his before it was ever Peverell Castle."

"Oh, of course. Did you ever come here?" Sirius asked, feeling stupid for forgetting the obvious.

"Not when it was finished, I was here when he first found the site, I received several invitations to it over the years."

He reappeared not two minutes later, "The elves say that if Hattie were to put her blood on the ruby at the edge of the wards then we should all be fine so long as we were all touching her or touching someone who is touching her, they said something about intent but by then they were all too excited to speak coherent sentences."

Beckoning to his goddaughter, Sirius knelt down on the granite bedrock by the red stone, once Harriet stood infront of him and everyone was all joined up, Sirius gently cut a small cut on the palm of her hand which she quickly pressed to the stone. Immediately the group could feel the thick wards allowing them entry and everyone but Hattie was rather shaken. To the vampires and lone werewolf the wards had felt as though their every intention had been dragged from them to ensure the safety of the heiress. This sensation was not something shared by Hattie though as the wards had welcomed her, the magic singing through her blood, rejoicing that she had come to add her own magic to them.

And to its heiress, the castle rising from the waves looked like something out of her dreams and books, despite its isolated and fortified appearance it was so beautiful.

Hattie pulled her father's sleeve, "This is really mine?"

"Yes, little one. All yours." Marcus said as he looked over the imposing structure on its inhospitable location, he had to shake off the feeling of melancholy that had enveloped him, Godric and the other three Founders had been wonderful friends and people who he missed greatly. He knew that if Godric could have seen the castle now he would have been proud and a little surprised to see that it had survived the centuries, moreover he was sure that the man would have adored Hattie who seemed to be learning more and appreciating the world more with every day. Salazar too would have been fond of the little little girl who had inadvertently become his heiress, raising the heiress to the houses of Gryffindor and Slytherin was by no stretch of the imagination a chore and he was so grateful that Alec and Jane had found their little princess, abused as she was then.

Sirius interrupted his musings, "You should all be fine now, if I apparate Remus, do you want to take Hattie over to the gate?"

Marcus nodded and picking Hattie up into his arms, he led the group of vampires at speed down the path and over to the large entrance gates whilst Remus and Sirius vanished and reappeared. Seconds later found them all standing as a group once more before the large oak door of the outer curtain wall, Sirius looked down at their charge,

"Do you want to open the door? You need to do the same thing and put some more blood on the ruby on the pillar."

Hattie smiled up happily and once more placed her blood on the ruby. As the door swung open there was the immediate sound of excited chatter.

Sirius groaned, "The house elves are rather excited, I think they have been a bit lonely."

As the passed through the arch the vampires and three humans could all see the five elves hopping around and almost vibrating with excitement. Once the group had been spied, the small elves nearly froze and Sirius was sure that one of them had all but fainted with excitement.

"Hattie, come here!" Sirius said happily, "Now, these are the house elves for House Potter. We have Teasel who was not only your nanny elf but also James'; Polo is in charge of the kitchens; Whiskey was your grandfather's valet elf as well as your father's; Lommy is in charge of the rest of the house and Noddy is the garden and estates' elf. Now, this is Harriet Lily Dorea Potter who I know you have all met but not seen for a long time."

When the small raven girl had pulled away from her little group and immediately hugged the closest elf, who happened to be Lommy, Sirius smirked. When she then proceeded to hug and greet everyone of the elves, Sirius rubbed his face in his hands once every one of the elves started sobbing and declaring their unworthiness to an increasingly bemused Hattie who turned in confusion to her father and god-father who just chuckled unhelpfully. The situation wasn't helped when the girl immediately started to comfort them and tell them that 'it was okay'.

Realising that the crying wasn't going to stop soon if this situation continued as it was an almost infinite loop, Sirius turned to Teasel, "Would you like some time to collect yourselves? If we go to the hall, would someone come and give us a tour in a few minutes?" With that the five elves all vanished taking their wailing noise with them.

Harriet looked around, "Are all house elves like that?"

Sirius laughed as he led the party over to the door into the great hall, "Only if you treat them like that. They can be some of the most loyal creatures there are."

The hall was the centre of the site, a double height structure that spanned the entire width of the building with large windows down its two long sides. At either end were two large blocks of buildings, at one end the kitchens, stables and service end, whilst the other was the rooms for the family. Walking into the hall the group could see the door into these high quarters behind the table that had been raised on a dais, above the entrance end of the large room their was a large minstrels gallery. The room was decorated with carved wooden panels and tapestries that were almost a direct contrast to the gold covered surfaces of the Black Manor.

"I hope you are not planning to eat in here on a day-to-day basis." Marcus asked as he ran his fingers along one of the three long oak tables that ran up to the raised dais table.

Sirius smiled as he agreed, "When there are only three of us eating it would seem a bit formal."

"Daddy? Why is it so big?" Hattie asked looking around the huge room

"Well, this room would have had to be able to fit all the Gryffindor family, all their allies, their guests and their servants if needed. It was also built so that if the muggles ever discovered Hogwarts, the school could be temporarily evacuated here."

"Really?" Remus asked with surprise.

"That was the plan. They were all so worried that a school of defenseless children being found if the wards ever failed that they

"But _Hogwarts: A History_ says that the wards at the school are the best in Britain?" Hattie asked, frowning slightly.

"Remus, I believe you would answer this best." Marcus said.

"Wards are layers of magic, over time they build up and up. Large scale wards are at their most unstable when they are first put up as they have little supporting them. Think of it like a house, new wards are like a wooden building, whilst they serve their purpose then can be damaged or fall down. A stone building however is that much more stable and has that much more support that it is very difficult to break. That is why Hogwarts' wards are so strong, they have been in the same place for a thousand years, very few buildings can ever boast that, even Gringotts was founded in 1474, the Ministry wards were redone when the building was repaired during the 17th century. Does that make sense?"

"How would they get all the children here though?" Hattie asked.

"Helga's daughter created a pair of cabinets that were connected, rather like a Floo, one was in Hogwarts, the other here. Each of the Founders' had a house outside of Hogwarts that they kept in case of an emergency."

Sirius had by this point lost interest in the conversation and had meandered up to the door beyond the high table, he pushed it open to reveal a large open space from which two corridors led off as well as two doors. By this time Teasel had reappeared, without any tears in her eyes and looking rather embarrassed about her and her companions behaviour.

"Does Master Sirius and the Young Mistress want a tour?" She asked carefully pulling her ear down bashfully.

Harriet smiled, "Yes please, you know it far better than us. But please you can call me Hattie if you want."

Teasel hopped slightly, "This is being the main quarters." Heading towards the left hand door she pushed it open, "This be the study for the Chatelaine." She pushed open the other door too, "And this be the study for the Steward."

Harriet inclined her head and asked her father, "What is a 'Chatelaine'?"

"Someone who is in charge of the house. It can be the lady of the house or it can be someone appointed by the Lord and Lady. Between the Steward and the Chatelaine the house is run properly."

Harriet nodded carefully as she looked into the rooms and saw the large desks and multiple books and shelves.

The tour continued in this manner with the group shown the formal and informal dining rooms, the solar, Morning Room, studies for the Lord and Lady, the bedrooms and dressing rooms as well as many other rooms of varied purpose but each beautifully decorated and furnished. By the end Harriet's head was fairly swimming with information and Sirius was almost certain he was going to end up lost at least once a day for the foreseeable future.

"What's that door?" Harriet asked, pointing at a small oak door that she had not noticed earlier.

The rest of the party all looked around, mystified by her question, Sirius looked down, "Hattie, we can't see a door, it may be that only you can see it as only you are a member of the family."

"Oh... Can I open it?"

Here Teasel cleared her throat carefully, "Missie Hattie? That is being the door to the library and vaults. Only you is being able to go in but you can give permission if you wanted."

"Thank you Teasel!" Hattie said as she reached out a hand to the wooden latch on the door, flicking it up she pushed gently and the wood swung open.

Stepping in to the darkness, Hattie flinched as the fire from torches on the wall sprung up. The room was clearly a library, book stacked upon book, parchment on parchment whilst in the centre of the room were two book stands, approaching the closest Hattie flicked it open gently to reveal a catalogue of books. Stepping back carefully she moved over to the second, looking at the heavy leather bindings and catches Hattie laid a hand on the middle catch. There was a sudden stabbing pain in her index finger as soon as she touched it and looking down at her finger, the heiress could see a little bit of blood welling up from a cut that the book must have made. Hearing a click Hattie looked down to see that all three of the large locks had sprung open, cautiously opening the first page, she read the large words that emblazoned it, 'Grimore of Godric Gryffindor, First of His Name'.

Meanwhile outside the room, the vampires in the group were having a minor panic attacks for as soon as Hattie had stepped into the room she had apparently vanished into the wall as did the sound of her heart beat and her scent.

Felix turned to Sirius, "The castle won't hurt Hattie will it?"

"Oh, not at all. Magical buildings like this are semi-sentient to a degree, whilst they aren't exactly able to communicate, they are aware of their owners and any dangers. The castle would never hurt her."

"Daddy?" Hattie called excitedly as she emerged once more from the blank wall face five minutes later.

"Please don't scare me like that again!" Marcus said as he approached his daughter, picking her up and checking she was alright, immediately picking up the smell of blood, "Why are you bleeding?"

"Oh, it isn't bad, see? I touched a book and it took a little of my blood."

There was silence for a minute as everyone's body stiffened at the idea of there being some sort of dark book within the house that may harm Hattie.

Remus maintained his level headed persona, "What was the book called?"

"Oh, Uncle Remmie!" Hattie said excitedly, "You may like it, it is called the 'Grimore of Godric Gryffindor, First of His Name'. You like Gryffindor, don't you?"

The silence continued as Hattie looked excitedly at Remus, the werewolf just stood blinking occasionally as he considered the fact that behind the invisible door sat one of the most valuable books that he could have ever imagined.

Marcus decided to break the silence, "Well, I am sure that we will all have time to look into the library at some point but I believe that Polo was preparing some food and we wouldn't want it to be ruined."

(Marcus would later consider the fact that it would have been impossible for the food to be ruined considering the amount that Polo had made, the hall had been set up for their lunch and the top table had been almost covered with food. Considering that only three people had been able to eat any of it, Marcus was rather impressed with the indent that had been made into it. He had been forced to stop Hattie from eating a third helping of treacle tart, after all she had had two portions of lemon meringue pie and he was certain that she would have felt rather ill otherwise. He gave up with Sirius and Remus, considering the latter had managed to eat over one whole chocolate tort he was rather surprised that Remus had managed to spent the afternoon exploring the castle rather than curled up somewhere cursing his inability to decline chocolate.)

* * *

Huffing, Marcus straightened his adopted daughter's collar once more, as a rule he tried to be a level-headed, controlled vampire but unfortunately that did not always work. He was about to send his Hattie off into the lair of the wizarding community, not just a party where social convention and alcohol tempered the environment but the centre of the government, where Albus Dumbledore still reigned. If he could, he would have accompanied Sirius and Hattie but he was well aware that would be dangerous, secrecy was needed as far as possible, not just to protect Hattie but to protect his entire species.

"Daddy? I will be fine, Siri will look after me. Promise."

Marcus smiled at Hattie's sincere tone, "I know he will. But, I can't help but worry, make sure you listen to him and don't leave his side."

"I won't and Madame Longbottom said she would help."

"It'll be fine and when you get back then I am sure that your avid fans will have some treacle tart ready for you." He smiled at the memory of the Potter house elves, the 'Missie Hattie' was their absolute favourite person in the world and Marcus was well aware that they would be another layer of protection.

He looked up as Sirius entered the solar, "I take it this means you need to leave?"

"Indeed." Sirius answered, "We can't be late our first time after all. We shouldn't be back too late, the August Session is normally about as productive as Alec is really, it is just a chance to show off."

"Neville will be there, won't he?" Hattie asked, nervous about being there without her new best friend, raising her chin so that Marcus could do up the long bottle green cloak over her green before he pulled up the hood to hide her recognisable features.

"His grandmother promised he would. Now we need to leave. Marcus, you will be alright won't you?"

"Of course. Go! Before you ruin all your hard work at the Wizengamot by being late."

Sirius rolled his eyes before he pulled Hattie close. "Okay, I need you to breathe in and hold that breathe until we get to London. Otherwise apparating can be uncomfortable." Seeing she had taken his advice he transported them to the foyer of the Ministry of Magic in London.

"Okay, we are there!" Sirius announced as he checked that the hood of the cloak was still over his goddaughter's face and pulling his own over his face, knowing that anyone who recognised him would automatically assume that the small figure beside him was the Girl-Who-Lived. "You alright pup?"

"Yup." Hattie answered as she looked around the large space filled with lifts, fireplaces and dominated by the large fountain. "How long do we have until the session starts?"

"Not too long but that means we get to avoid the irritating small talk in the Lords' and Ladies' Gathering Chamber before the doors open to the Wizengamot hall. Right, let's be off then." With that he reached down for Hattie's hand and led her towards the lift, finding one without any other people in it he directed her towards it before he pushed the button down to the older parts of the Ministry.

"Uncle Siri?" Hattie asked now they were alone. "Why is the Wizengamot down here?"

"Think of it like Gringott's, the deeper we go, the older it is. The buildings on ground level were rebuilt after the Witch Trials under James VI of Scotland and the I of England lots of people went into hiding or died so the medieval buildings fell into disrepair, they kept the older Wizengamot chambers and the Department of Mysteries as they both contain artifacts that couldn't be moved. I am sure that Remus could tell you far more about it than I if you wished."

"Okay!" Hattie said cheerfully as the lift slowed and the doors opened.

Reaching once more for Hattie's hand, Sirius walked towards the door for the Gathering Chamber, through which was the doors to the Wizengamot Chamber. He breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the first room empty, he had not wished to have to wait for the doors to open as that would have meant that there was no awkward small talk.

Looking down at Hattie he smiled at her upturned face, "This may be a difficult session but there will be people you know, just keep close to me, I would hate to think what your 'Daddy Darling' would do to me if something happened to you!"

"I promise!." Hattie said as she tried to peer through the doors into the chamber.

Sirius smirked as he gently pushed her through the doors still with both their hoods raised. Gently maneuvering her up the stairs into the Neutral Block seats he noticed some narrowed eyes and careful glances, whilst it was not common to appear wearing full cloaks, he was sure that people would understand once they saw who he was accompanied by. Choosing to ignore them he pulled off his own cloak and threw it over the chair near him before he knelt down to unfasten the clip on his goddaughter's. Flipping off the hood and easing the material off her shoulders, he threw it over his own before he directed her into the chair beside his.

Huffing slightly he took in the reactions of those in the Chamber, it was obvious that they had not expected the Girl-Who-Lived to appear, not that he could be surprised at their misconception, after all Dumbledore still sought control over her and he did not doubt that followers of Voldemort still sought revenge. The Light Block stared at the small girl in her navy dress like she was Merlin reborn whilst the Dark Block watched with careful consideration, whilst she had appeared at parties, the political arena was another matter and they would not temper their blows because of societal niceties, champagne and dancing. Pulling a piece of parchment and a quill nearer he started to write in shorthand the people that needed to be watched, for instance the elder Nott who gaze seemed fixed on Hattie as well as some of the lighter orientated like Elphias Doge who he knew was deeper in Dumbledore's pockets than anyone else in the room. Turning his attention to the heirs he wasn't surprised to see so many, the time after the defeat of Voldemort there had been a bit of a Baby-boom among the purebloods and so many had heirs a year or two younger than Harriet including the Carrows and Lovegoods, they were now of an age when they would be brought to the August Session.

Scanning the Light Block he tried to see Madame Longbottom, not seeing her he scanned the rest of the room to see if she was standing elsewhere. When he eventually saw her accompanied by her grandson near the bottom of the stairs he sighed with relief, another person to help in what was sure to be a trying day. As he caught her eye he inclined his head slightly acknowledging her presence. Sirius was slightly startled when, instead of heading towards the Light Block they started up the stairs towards the Neutral Block, believing that she needed a word, he stood quickly and bowed his head slightly.

"Madame Longbottom, it is lovely to see you today, can I help you?"

The lady in question sniffed, "You can start by moving over, we require seats, some of us are not twenty-something anymore."

Sirius' eyebrows rose in surprise, "Really?"

"Well, we needed to make an impression. At any rate, Neville wanted to sit near his friend."

The Lord Black chuckled, for the Longbottom regent and scion to sit in the Neutral Block them was to announce their change of political outlook, for them to sit beside the Black and Potter seats was to all but announce that the ancient allegiance between the Longbottom and Potter family had been revived by the younger generation. It was a politically astute time to make such a move, as could be seen by the children who were busy greeting each other enthusiastically, the two got on so the relationship was likely to be maintained; secondly, doing it on the day when all the heirs were there proclaimed it to the lords, ladies and their successors.

Looking around he could see the message had been taken in, the Dark and Light Blocks stared at the small group with undisguised curiosity and no little degree of wariness, the Potter and Longbottom seats had, until the rise of Voldemort, formed the core of the Neutral Block, they were a powerful pair of family magically, economically and politically. When they had distanced themselves from the rising pureblooded mania the surrounding families in the Neutral Block who had swarmed around the Longbottom/Potter seats, had split between the Light and Dark Blocks. For families like the Bones', Ogdens' in the Light Block the move of the Regent Longbottom was an opportunity to move back to their traditional Neutral seats. The reaction of the Dark Block lords who had originally been in the Neutral Block such as the Avery and Selwyn families was slightly more complicated, some of them had been involved with Voldemort either through financing or being Death Eaters themselves, for them to suddenly move back would be political suicide from their point of view, there was a chance that the Neutral Block would ostracise them if they did return as would the Dark Block. For now however, they were content to watch and wait for a time when they could subtly gauge the reaction they would receive if they did move. It was not as though they were unwilling to move, the Dark Block was too dark and the Light Block too light, the Neutral Block had always allowed the freedom of movement that was well appreciated; moreover, the Lord Black was clear that he was trying to find a middle ground, a middle ground that at the moment appeared a distinct upgrade from the hard politics of the Dark Block.

Retaking his seat Sirius was not surprised to see Hattie and Neville busy chatting intently, ignoring the unsubtle glances of surrounding lords and ladies, it was rather helpful as it meant that Hattie would not be so aware of the stares nor glares. He turned once more to Madame Longbottom,

"I was wondering whether you would like to come to Black Manor next Sunday for lunch, Hattie's adoptive father wished to meet you."

His companion gave him a hard glance as she raised her eyebrows, "I will consider it, I am sure that you will explain to me the...need for secrecy regarding this mysterious adopted father."

Sirius frowned slightly, unaware he had been so obvious in his attempts to avert any discussion about Marcus, "...Yes."

"Come now boy." Madame Longbottom smirked, "I have forgotten more about politics and how to read people than you have ever learned."

"Well, with age comes experience...and you have plenty of the former." He muttered the last part but apparently not enough to escape the sharp eye of the formidable woman.

"I am still on speaking terms with the dear Professor McGonagall" She sniffed, "We have talked recently about you... I was unaware of how much you trouble you caused. I have many stories I can relate to your god-daughter or your new companion, Heidi, if there is a need."

Sirius immediately stopped talking, knowing that she would not hold back. The timing was good as at that moment the Chief Warlock called order.

"We now call to order the August session of the six hundred and forty-third Wizengamot."

Sirius narrowed his eyes immediately, realising that the man's eyes did not stray too far from his god-daughter who now sat beside him listening to the opening speech and welcome. Fourty minutes later and Sirius was rather bored, the session had been as he had expected, a mixture of pompous gits parading about as well as subtle digs about status, money and the lack of heirs for certain families, he was certain that Lord Greengrass would curse the next person who made a comment about his lack of a male heir. The Lord Black sighed, having a male heir was not so important, if Hattie was a normal heiress then her husband would take her name or her son would take her title as their last name, he didn't care she was a girl and he would have cared no more or less had she been a boy. It wasn't as though the Lords' Crabbe and Goyle could boast about much considering that their sons had almost been removed for their lack of manners.

Hearing the Chief Warlock asking if anyone had anything they wished to bring to the court, Sirius stood, "Chief Warlock? House Potter would like to request something of the August Body."

With that he sat, after some discussion with Hattie and the goblins it had been decided that now was the time to bring up the matter of the money from Voldemort's vaults. Whilst he himself could have asked the court on behalf of Hattie, it had been felt that if she was to do it herself it would be better for all involved. As his little heiress stood, Sirius saw she was shaking with nerves and so he grasped her hand out of view of the hawks who watched unabashed of their staring.

Good morning." Hattie started, her voice shaking a little as the eyes of everyone in the room fixed on her (along with several camera lens), "My Uncle Sirius and I were talking to the Gringotts' goblins and they told us that after the death of my parents and the disappearance of Voldemort that any vaults that previously belonged to the man became mine. I don't really see why I deserve them or should have them so I asked whether they could be given back to those who he harmed. I was told the easiest way to do that would be to give the money to St Mungo's and so that is what we are hoping to do. With you permission, we will transfer the contents of the vault over to the hospital and help more people there. Thank you."

Harriet blushed as she stood waiting for a response, a response that came very quickly as Amelia Bones stood from her place in the light block and bowed slightly to the girl, she was quickly followed by the Longbottoms, then many others across the room and the public gallery.

Fudge cleared his throat, keen to get in on the publicity, "Heiress Potter, I believe that I speak for the entire wizarding population of Britain when I say that we are very grateful for your generous offer. Is there any particular part of St Mungo's you would like to give it to?"

Harriet frowned, "I didn't know that I had to think about that, there is only five million galleons." Here there was a round of coughing around the room at the fact that Hattie thought five million galleons needed to be prefixed by 'only' and Sirius smirked but she continued on regardless. "If you don't mind it may be best that the hospital directors tell us what they think the money needs to be used for, I have never been there so I wouldn't really be the best person to ask surely?"

"I believe that I speak for the people of the wizarding communities of Britain when I say thank you." Fudge said, a round of 'hear hears' followed and Hattie smiled,

"You're welcome, I am glad I can help."

The Minister for Magic cleared his throat, "Well, I believe that if there are no other matters for the Wizengamot then we the August Session can be adjourned."

There was an immediate change in the level of noise as everyone discussed the gift and the Session in general.

Madame Longbottom turned to Sirius and Hattie, "Well done. Talk about setting the kneazle among the nifflers. I am afraid we are going to have to beat a hasty retreat, I promised Algie that we would be in for tea. We shall see about that lunch party." With that the pair vanished into the crowd trying to get out of the doors. Sirius however, stayed seated with Hattie and gave her a one armed hug,

"Well done, pup. You did wonderful, I am so proud of you for speaking."

Hattie perked up, "Really, it was okay?"

"Of course it was. I may have to get a pensieve to show your father and uncles, you were wonderful." Seeing that there were only a few stranglers left behind in the Wizengmot room he stood and pulling the cloak back over Harriet's shoulders, he fastened it with its silver clip. Taking her hand he led her down the stairs to the door.

"Harriet!" Came a voice just behind them, a voice that had Sirius wanting to draw his wand and curse the twinkle-eyed man to within an inch of his life and then set Marcus and Jasper on him, he grimaced that he had failed to notice that the Chief Warlock had not left the room. Harriet however turned, unfailingly polite she would never have ignored someone calling her voice.

"Good afternoon, Chief Warlock." She returned looking at the man with an odd look on her face, mind you, Sirius considered, who wouldn't look at the man with an odd look on his face? He was wearing a turquoise robe with what appeared to be charmed fireworks sporadically going off on it.

"My dear girl, that was a wonderful gift to the nation. We are very grateful."

"It was no bother." She said, keen to leave, after all Neville had left her a book about Herbology that she was keen to show Aunt Pica who was very fond of gardening.

"I just wanted to ask whether you checked to see who the money came from, after all he stole lots of money from families before he killed them. You should try to return it to them before you give it to St Mungo's, I have a list of who Lord Voldemort stole money from including some close friends of your parents' and godfather, I shal..." Here he was interrupted by an irate Sirius.

"Chief Warlock. You will mind your own business and back out of the issue. Harriet chose St Mungo's for private reasons that do not involve you. It is Harriet's choice and it is final!"

A look of false sorrow appeared on the face of the older man, "I am sorry you feel that way but I must ask that you consider getting some help with the vaults, Voldemort may have left some dark and dangerous items in their. I would be willing to offer my help."

Sirius raised an eyebrow, "You think that I did not consider that? What do you take me for, an idiot? However, I shall not be taking up your offer of... help. If I need help then the goblins can help. Now if you excuse me, we have places to be." With that he once more led Hattie out of the halls of the chamber leaving Dumbledore behind. If either the raven haired girl or her father and felt to inclined to look behind them they would have seen the look of pure unadulterated rage over the face of the man.

* * *

 ** _Five Million Galleons to St Mungos from the Vaults of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named! by Rita Skeeter_**

 _I am sure that I was one of the many shocked when Harriet Potter, our Girl-Who-Lived stood up in her first appearance at the Wizengamot during the traditional August Session to announce that all proceeds from the vaults of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named would go back to the people._

 _She had decided that the best place for it to go was therefore St Mungo's, the amount totaled around five million galleons...yes my readers...the total gold that Harriet Potter claimed when she defeated He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was five million galleons. Now she gives it all back to us, I can honestly not thank our dear Harriet Potter enough and know that my sentiments will be shared by many throughout the wizarding world._

 _[Picture of Harriet Potter above]_

* * *

 _ **The Committee for Research and Study- Lord Black's new gift to the Wizarding community**_

 _Almost a week ago Harriet Potter promised five million galleons to St Mungo's and now it seems that having visited the hospital her guardian was keen to help us further. Lord Black announced that he wanted to "encourage a new age of innovation and inquiry" by creating 'The Committee for Research and Study' that gives money grants to those who wish to research a particular topic and rewards those who have created or studied. Sitting on the committee shall be members of the academic community who will be the judges, applicants can apply for grants to study a particular subject (for instance a potion or a charm) or can present their research to gain a reward. To encourage this "new age" Lord Black has announced regular competition times when the committee shall announce a particular topic for research. More to follow._

* * *

 _ **St Mungo's new extension- Harriet Potter lays foundation stone- by Rita Skeeter**_

 _The Girl-Who-Lived returned once more to public view to lay the foundation stone of an entire new wing of the hospital, the new extension will nearly double the present size of the place and include a whole new floo and apparition area, welcome area, eight new specialised wards, a children's wing and a garden. Speaking before she laid the stone, the Potter Heiress said "I am glad that the money could go to a better use by helping people, St Mungo's does so much for us all and has such an important place in our history so hopefully the money that came from the vaults of V*******t can help many for generations to come." Please note Readers, that the Girl-Who-Lived used the full name of the man she finished. Pictures can be found overleaf and below._

 _The building works and warding are expected to take ten months but the official opening is planned for the August Session of the Wizengamot, eleven months from now which marks a year since Harriet Potter publicly pledged this money._

* * *

 _ **The First Competition for the Committee for Research and Study Announced** _

_Since the CRS was announced by Lord Black it has been under intense scrutiny and interest from both a domestic and international community. And now, two weeks later we can bring you the first update._

 _The Committee members have now been chosen and include twenty-five of the best and brightest of the wizarding world. They range from scholars based in France to India specialising in subjects from Astronomy to Art. Representing Britain are two of our greatest, Filius Flitwick (Charms master, Hogwarts teacher and international Dueling Champion) and Garrick Ollivander (Master of Wand-making and Lore). Perhaps two of the most interesting international figures on the committee are the Flamels who have left their traditionally isolated living to publicly praise the concept and join. Assisting the main committee in what is sure to be a huge task are around a hundred admin workers who will ensure that everyone gets their opportunity, they will be based throughout the continents and organise events and displays._

 _It is believed that this is the first committee of this type ever in the wizarding world and the international world have been keen to get involved. So far the American government has pledged public money to assist Lord Black's committee whilst the French government has praised the founder, Lord Black, for keeping this a scholars only project where research and education will reign supreme, unimpeded by politics or rivalries._

 _Three competition topics have been announced:_

 _1) Work towards helping cure the effects of nerval damage including the Cruciatus Curse, this can be a potion or spell_

 _2) A written paper on the effects of nontraditional materials in warding_

 _3) Any new charm that has any practical use_

 _Full rules can be picked up at any Ministry building in Britain or abroad and include the forms that need to be submitted, the closing date for the competition is the end of the year._ _Remember! Anyone can enter, let's get behind this new project and prove to the international wizarding community that Britain shall not be overlooked._

* * *

 **So there we go I hope you enjoyed this chapter, tell me what you think, I do love including your ideas in the story, (the 'Committee for Research and Study' idea came from a reviewer) so please do feel free to message with concepts or things you would like to see. We will be back in America for most of the next chapter so more of the Cullens' soon.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor the Twilight series.**

* * *

"Lady Longbottom, may I introduce you to Marcus Volturi, Hattie's adopted father!"

The Dowager Longbottom fixed her sharp eyes on Marcus, taking in his hair, clothes and rather distinctive eyes, she glanced at Sirius,

"Lord Black, if you want me to believe that Mr. Volturi is human then you are not doing a good job of it. Now, whilst House Longbottom does not have the vaunted pedigree of House Potter nor the perfect heritage of House Black we do have a history and grimore to match. And if you think for one moment that I am not aware of the existence of these muggle vampires then you are gravely mistaken!"

Sirius was shocked, "Wait, you know of the Volturi? And muggle vampires?"

Augusta Longbottom merely rolled her eyes, "An ancestor of my dearly departed husband was aware of these vampires but not the Volturi who must be the nobility of the race? At some point in the 17th century there was a coven of them in London, he was undercover inspecting a pastor who claimed that he was burning witches and wizards. Anyway, Randulph Longbottom went on a vampire hunt, led by the son of the man, from what Randuph wrote he was surprised the young man was able to hurt anything, let alone kill. He was not expecting that they would find vampires in the sewers of London but they did. In the chaos and unable to save anyone without revealing magic, he apparated away, from the entry he wrote in his diary, he did not think that any survived the attack, he had learned enough to write a warning of them for the family."

Marcus frowned, "I don't suppose you can remember the name of the pastor?"

"Cullen I believe. Or at least that was the surname, I fear I cannot remember the first name."

Marcus looked to Sirius smirking slightly, "Now who do we know with that name?"

"Carlisle?" Lord Black said in shocked surprise, "Really?"

"You know the man?" Lady Longbottom said, shocked that pastor, who she had understood to be a rather devout man had survived so long as a creature of the dark.

"Not the man but his son, whose name is Carlisle and a more humane vampire could not be found anywhere. He now lives in America, works as a muggle doctor and his adoptive son is Hattie's mate."

Sirius almost kicked himself when the Lady immediately picked up on the term, "'Mate.'" She sniffed, "Well I suppose a betrothal between Neville and Harriet is therefore out of the window. Typical, the only child I may be willing to suffer as a in-law is already mated."

"Sorry?" Sirius said, unsure whether that was the correct reaction.

"No matter, I am sure there are others who are capable of rational thought and erudite conversation... It may take some time to find one but needs must. As I presume that Harriet has a creature inheritance it would have been very lucky for them to be mated."

Marcus inclined his head in acknowledgement, "Is Neville expected to come into a creature inheritance?"

The dowager made an action as close to a shrug as it could have been without it being considered unladylike, "As a rule, House Longbottom tends not to come into any inheritances but I could not say for definite either way. His fascination with plants is certainly indicative of an inheritance."

Marcus smiled, "Well, he has made Hattie more interested in the subject than I would have expected. Her Aunt Sulpica is very happy as she now gets some help in the garden."

Lady Longbottom smiled slightly, "Whilst this small talk is lovely may we please get back to the conversation that I am really interested in, namely why Harriet Potter ended up being adopted by a coven of vampires?"

Half an hour later, Lady Longbottom sat back on the Chesterfield sofa, nursing her small glass of sherry rather tightly. She had been told everything, from the treatment that Hattie had endured at the hands of the Dursleys' to the fact that Sanguine, the Prince of the magical vampires was at her back and call.

"Randulph was right then." Madame Longbottom said, "He believed there was some sort of 'government' behind this other species of vampire otherwise we would have known about them already."

"I wonder why he did not warn the Ministry about the existence of them." Marcus considered, rubbing his chin as he gazed out of the window onto the terrace.

"I think he meant to but it was just all forgotten, all he really wrote about them was that they were beautiful in the extreme, red eyes, super humanly fast, skin like marble and unaffected by the spells like 'stupefy'. He was a rather forgetful chap though... he had one house elf whose job it was to remind him about things like his wife's anniversary or his sons' birthdays. Runs in the family it must be admitted."

Marcus laughed slightly as he looked out the window.

"What is it?" Sirius asked, looking up.

"I think that Hattie has decided that it is lunch, she is just about dragging Heir Longbottom out of the garden borders."

The grandmother of the boy in question groaned, "Some days...! However, he is a genius with plants, he has almost developed a glow-in-the-dark cactus."

"Really?" Sirius asked, turning around, "That's brilliant."

She chuckled in return, "At least I will now be able to see the damn cacti at night...the amount of times that I accidentally ended up a pin cushion because Neville has brought a plant into the house without telling me where he has put it is rather ridiculous."

The laughter of the elder members of the party was interrupted when Neville and Hattie ran into the room, "Hello!" Hattie chirped.

"Hello darling!" Marcus said, pulling his daughter into a quick hug, "Have you been having fun together?"

Neville turned to his grandmother, "Oh, you should see the greenhouses, they are amazing and there is one for each continent and there are so many plants. The collection of Brassicaceae is so good!"

Sirius muttered quietly to Marcus, "Aren't Brassicaceae just cabbages?"

Receiving a confused look in return he asked the room in general, "Well shall we have some lunch? If you want to, after lunch of course, we can all go and see what books you can find in the library."

Ignoring Madame Longbottom's look of bewildered surprise he pulled the door of the drawing room open to allow the others in the party to pass through. Oh, he knew why she was surprised. Libraries were private and almost sacred spaces to family members, for Sirius, as a Black, to allow the Longbottoms' to see the library at their familial home was saying that he trusted them to the point of allowing them to see the centre of their rituals and learning. He was aware he was putting a lot of trust in the pair but also knew that at this point trust was important, up until this point Sirius had held most of the trump cards, he was the guardian of the Girl-Who-Lived and he alone knew who she lived with and where. Now they were on equal footing, in an equal partnership and Sirius hoped that that would mean that their relationship would endure and not just be for political gain.

Walking beside Marcus, Madame Longbottom was in minor shock, she could handle the existence of another race of vampires, she could handle the fact that the leaders of this race were looking after Harriet Potter and she could handle the fact that said Girl-Who-Lived was mated to another. What she struggled with was that she was going to be allowed into the Black Library; she could count on one hand (and still have three fingers left) how many familial libraries she had been in throughout her life, her own family library, the Greengrass before she was married and then the Longbottom library. To be invited to enter the Black Library was an act of pure trust and Augusta Longbottom would never betray that trust and if she could help it, neither would any of her descendants. She was only just realising that the alliance, that she thought was only between House Longbottom and Potter, now included House Black. She almost smirked, realising that two years ago she would never have even thought that, a member of House Black tortured her son and daughter-in-law almost to death whilst another apparently betrayed her son's dear friends to death at the hands of the egotistical, pathetic excuse for a wizard, Voldemort. Now, well now she was quite happy sitting in one of their smaller dining rooms, eating a wonderful plate of smoked duck and pomegranate salad whilst listening to her grandson chatter on to his new friend about whether they could visit China together at some point as he rather wanted to find an apparently extinct variety of magical cherry tree that once lived there.

Accidentally catching Sirius' eye she held his gaze for a moment before breaking it as she inclined her head slightly, acknowledging their relationship and thanking him for everything he had done.

Sirius however continued looking at the elderly witch for a few seconds longer before looking down at his plate, there was still so much that needed done but smirking slightly, he realised what needed to be done next week at the Wizengamot session.

* * *

 ** _Lord Black Expels Member of his House for Crimes During the Last War!_** ** _by Rita Skeeter_**

 _Many were shocked when, in yesterday's session of the Wizengamot, Lord Black stood to announce that as head of his family he had chosen to remove Lady Bellatrix Lestrange, formerly Bellatrix Black from the magic and protection of his House._

 _Explaining his reasons he spoke saying, "I am not doing this for political reasons... I am not doing this because I did not support the side that she did... and I am not doing this as part of a petty churlish grudge. I am doing this because my cousin choose to torture, maim and kill witches and wizards on the orders of a madman who thought that we should kneel to his whims and wishes. She allowed herself to be branded like a cow. Whilst I acknowledge that she is being punished in Azkaban, she did not follow the family law and she in doing so dragged our name through the mud. I, as Lord Black, will remove her from my magic and protection. It is my wish that my House and Line will move forward, we cannot change past history but nor can I allow this to impinge upon the name and honour of my House."_

 _It is unknown whether Lord Black means to remove her from House Black's protection and magic (allowing her to remain a member of House Lestrange) or try to remove the marriage contract between the two families and then remove her from House Black (if the marriage contract is found to be broken then Lady Lestrange would be rendered Nameless)._

 _There has been some discussion as to the timing of this announcement, after all, just two weeks ago the alliance between House Potter and House Longbottom was publicly acknowledged once more. Could Lord Black be using the expulsion of his cousin as an act of good-faith between House Black and Longbottom? After all, Bellatrix Lestrange was imprisoned after she was captured torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom. Whatever the reasons for the decision I am glad that Lord Black is removing this stain from his family and I hope that it sets a precedent for others like Lord Black to allow the Wizarding World to continue on, unimpeded with the history of the past horrors and atrocities._

 _Bellatrix Lestrange- Her trail from someone who was there!- p.2_

 _Frank and Alice Longbottom- Aurors and Heroes- p.3_

* * *

Sitting between the beds of her son and daughter-in-law, Augusta Longbottom felt the tears running down her wrinkled cheek. When she had sat down in the Wizengamot Chamber that morning she had not expected this and it had taken all her years of experience not to weep in the Chamber. It had been two hours since an owl had arrived in St Mungo's for her bearing a note from Lord Black announcing that two of the torturers of her families were as good as dirt within the wizarding world. The marriage contract between Rodolphus Lestrange and Bellatrix Black had been broken as soon as either one of them was sentenced to Azkaban, with the marriage contract broken by both of them, House Black received the considerable dowry back and half of the vaults and lands of the House Lestrange. As soon as the marriage between the two had been broken and Bellatrix had returned to being a full member of House Black then Lord Black had removed her from the family and the magic associated with it.

Looking down at her beloved son who had endured so much only to be lying on a bed in a hospital, Lady Longbottom almost smiled. Oh, she knew what Sirius had done when he had made that Committee for Research and Study, the prize going to anyone who could develop something to help with nerve damage or the Cruciatus Curse. She had already been approached by three healers and two potions masters asking whether they would be allowed to use records and scans from Alice and Frank. And now, well now Lady Lestrange was Bellatrix Nameless and Rodophus Lestrange had lost half of his estate and his title. It was a good day and she smiled as Alice gave her a sweet wrapper before she wandered back to her bed. Slipping the wrapper between the leaves of her pocket book she stood and headed towards the door of the ward.

* * *

It had been decided a few months previous that Hattie should spend a week over in America with the Cullens at the end of October. Hattie was more than a little excited and had been running around the castle checking she had everything she needed for the last fortnight. She would be accompanied by Sirius and Remus so that the latter could meet the family and then they would spend a couple of day together before the two wizards left to conduct some business and Hattie could have some quality time with the Cullens.

Having arrived in Washington by the Gringott's tunnels, the small group had taken a plane from the east coast over to Seattle which had proved rather interesting as none of the group had ever been on a airplane before and Remus had almost had a panic attack when the plane had encountered some turbulence. The first class had been rather nice though and there had been chocolate to calm the man down. Now off the plane Sirius had been forced to pick up Hattie after she had become so excited about the thought of seeing Jasper and the Cullens' again that she had almost run through Customs without a thought. Passing the passports through to the man at the desk to get them checked, Sirius shifted his goddaughter onto his other hip, soon she would be too big for him to pick up and that would be a very sad day indeed!

Finally getting their suitcases the trio moved towards the exit only to be met by a party of vampires holding up a cardboard sign reading 'Hattie, Sirius and Remus...(but mainly Hattie)'. As soon as she had spied the Cullens' Hattie had wriggled to the point that Sirius had been forced to be put her down before he had dropped her, wasting no time the little raven haired girl had ran off towards them.

"Jasper... Rose... Emmie... Alice... Aunt Esme...Uncle Carlisle!" With that she ran straight into her mate's arms who pulled her up into her arms and hugged her close, purring in a very low tone as he did so.

By the time that Sirius and Remus had reached the party, Jasper had still not let Hattie down despite the fact that Emmett was pouting and moaning about the fact that Jasper was her favourite and he had not had a hug yet.

Carlisle turned to the animagus and werewolf, "I fear that we will not be allowed to hug Hattie for a while now. Sirius, lovely to see you again! You must be Remus, I am Carlisle Cullen!"

Adjusting his bag into his other hand, Remus shook the proffered hand, "It is very nice to meet you too, I fear you are right about that."

Sirius was pouting, "Remmie, you are a werewolf, threaten the blonde thing, growl at him or bite him! He shouldn't be allowed to touch my Hattie for at least another ten years..."

"You want to me to growl at the 'blonde thing'? No thank you, you can grow up and get a life."

Sniffing, Sirius muttered, "Well no more chocolate for you then. Maybe if I hit him with a rolled up newspaper."

"I am not sure that would work either!" Esme said as she approached the pair, "Hello Sirius. Remus? I am Esme, it is lovely to meet you. Now, I have three sons, two of whom are here now and not one of the pair has offered to take your bags so it seems I must do it."

That certainly got the attention of Emmett who rolled his eyes before hefting the bags into his arms, "Well, mother dear. I would have but Jasper was being selfish and not letting me hug Hattie, so it is his fault. I am Emmett by the way." He said in greeting to Remus, "Now, quick question Remus. Can I come with you at the full moon...I always wanted to see the damage a proper werewolf could do?"

"Errr..." Remus said in shock, it was not often that his 'condition' was discussed so freely.

"Sorry big guy!" Sirius said, coming to his aid, "We are leaving after Samhain so we won't be around for the full moon... Now this is getting ridiculous. Hattie! Come on, Remus said he wanted to see Spoons!"

Hattie laughed happily from her mate's arms, "Uncle Siri, it's Forks!"

Sirius smirked, "Well, you shouldn't name a town after a cooking utensil, imagine towns called Ladle or Whisk. Silly people founding towns with silly names."

Carlisle chuckled slightly before he led the party over to the Escalade and the Audi in the car park, "Right, who wants to go in which car then?"

* * *

Two hundred or so kilometres later and the little cavalcade drew up in front of the large glass house in the middle of the woods. Sirius got out of the Audi, stretching his back with a groan.

"Next time we are so apparating...now really!" He exclaimed as he saw Jasper carrying Hattie out of the other car, "Damn mates...damn blonde things... Remus? Remind me to see if the goblins can make chastity belts!"

Remus rubbed his face with a groan, "Idiotic thing."

Carlisle just laughed, "Remus, it is just past four, would you like some tea? I think Esme made some cake too if you are hungry."

"That sounds amazing, I am sorry about Sirius."

Esme just laughed, "It is no matter, I am sure that if I had a little girl I would be just as concerned. Now, Hattie said you like chocolate so I made a chocolate and salted caramel cake, is that alright?"

"That sounds amazing." Remus groaned as he was ushered into the house, "The house is amazing, everything is just to light."

He received a light laugh in return as Esme filled a kettle and gently pushed him onto one of the bar stools before the breakfast counter.

"Remus, I am interested, why chocolate?" She asked as she cut a generous slice of cake.

"Eating chocolate releases endorphines and affects the release of serotonin. The latter is an anti-depressant whilst the former lessens pain and stress. As a werewolf it just makes me feel a bit better!"

Esme looked at him with sad eyes, she had heard the story of the young man who looked so much older than he actually was. Whilst being a vampire was a pain, especially in the modern world, at least their lifestyle meant they could have a stable life, Remus could not. Pain, mistrust and prejudice was all he had really had for most of his life and she was certain that the man deserved none of it. Cutting another slice of cake she quickly pushed it onto his plate before filling a cup with some tea and setting it before the man.

Just as the tea appeared in front of Remus, Sirius strolled into the room,

"I heard there was cake...! Remus! Have you eaten it all?"

Esme swatted him gently, "Sit down and stop being mean, there is plenty of cake. Would you like some tea?"

"That would be lovely, Esme you are a goddess and we are not worthy of you!" He declared cheerfully as he sat down and started to attack a large slice of cake.

Remus looked up, "Where is Hattie?"

Esme cocked her head, "Alice and Rosalie decided she deserved a proper room in the house so they redecorated. From the sounds of it she is being given the full tour?"

"Should we be worried?" Sirius said, well aware of the tendency for the two girls to go overboard.

"I think you should feel grateful." Carlisle said as he entered the kitchen, "Alice was all for turning the whole thing pink with a wardrobe larger than the actual room. Emmett thought it should be a playground theme with swing, slides and an indoor tree-house. Rosalie wanted a princess concept. Jasper and Edward just wanted there to be books and instruments. In the end they found a middle ground."

"I don't think I have met Edward, he was away in Alaska last time we were here?"

"Oh yes, he has been introduced to Hattie now and are discussing music. They should be down in a minute."

Sirius groaned, "She is rather fond of music, she is too much of a good student!"

It was Remus who hit Sirius this time, "Don't say that like it is a bad thing. I struggle to see how you can be this great orator and politician in public and yet still act like a twelve year old when you aren't."

"Practice, Moony and sheer talent!"

They were interrupted by the commotion of the younger generation arriving in the kitchen.

"I swear that Hattie was wearing something different when we walked in the door to the house." Remus stated, taking in the sleeveless dress that was patterned with small images of the iconic red bus of London.

"Isn't it adorable?" Alice asked.

Sirius leaned over to Remus and muttered into his ear, well aware that everyone could hear, "Just say yes! Life is too short to have to listen to that lecture... again."

* * *

Upon realising that Hattie was going to be there for Halloween, the Cullen children (read Alice and Emmett) had decided that a spot of Trick-or-Treating was necessary. This led to one of the most confusing conversations that Sirius had had for the past few years.

"Hang on! You mean you dress up and people give you sweets?"

"Yes!" Emmett answered, "And it is called candy here!"

"But why?"

"Well, it is Halloween, you know? The most haunted day of the year? When the veil between the two worlds is at its thinnest?"

"You mean Samhain?"

"What's that?" Alice asked, rummaging through a few bags of clothes.

"What wizards celebrate, a feast to mark the dead and end of summer?"

"Oh? They may be similar then."

"Well we don't dress up in scary costumes and get them to give us sweets? We are more likely to kill a goose or something?"

"Dude...you are already wizards, you don't need the scary costume, you are already wearing a dress!" Emmett replied, looking down at his iPad, "Oh! Look here is a picture of a kid dressed up as a bunch of grapes, can we do this?"

"...I am confused." Sirius stated, "How does dressing up as a bunch of grapes and getting sweets have anything to do with the veil being at its thinnest?"

It was probably a good thing that Carlisle entered at this point, "Sirius, it is really just a commercial thing now really. Samhain and Halloween are like Yule and Christmas. Halloween is an adaptation of the muggle pagan Samhain. Emmett and Alice just want to dress Hattie up in a costume, take her into Forks, have her knock on a few doors, get some candy before they come back here for your Samhain festival."

"I still don't understand this but it sounds sort of fun." Sirius said, starting to like the idea despite the fact he didn't understand it, "What are you wanting to dress her up as?"

He almost immediately regretted the question as Alice started bouncing happily, "Well, I didn't know what she was going to like so I just got a few things. We are all going to dress up, well Edward, Emmett, Jasper, Rosalie and I are! I thought we could each go as the period we were turned in, Jasper could go someone from the 1860s, I could go in Twenties clothes, Edward in costume from the 1910s and Rosalie and Emmett from the Thirties!"

"That is actually a rather sweet idea." Rosalie said as she appeared at the door.

"There is no need to sound surprised!" Alice sniffed, "I actually do have good ideas when anyone bothers to listen to me."

"Rosie!" Emmett said happily, "We can match then!"

"I thought this was about Hattie, not you lot." Esme asked as she too appeared in the sitting room.

"Well Hattie can match Jasper." Carlisle said.

"I thought she would look cute as Snow White..." Alice moaned.

"Or, and here is a small idea, we could ask her?" Rosalie asked sarcastically.

"Actually, where is she?" Sirius asked, aware he had not seen his goddaughter for a few hours.

"Jasper and Hattie are sitting in his study reading about the Civil War."

"And no one is chaperoning?" Sirius replied as he strode towards the stairs intent on separating the pair.

Remus looked after his friend in amusement, "I hate to think what he is going to be like when she is finally at the age when all that sort of thing would actually be on the table. I am surprised he hasn't cracked out the Fidelity spells."

"What are those for?" Emmett asked, looking up from the internet where he was looking at 1930s mustaches.

"They were originally developed to stop girls from having a physical relationship before marriage, think an invisible chastity belt formed of magic. Eventually they found a way to put it on men too."

"Why would they do that?" Rosalie asked, "I thought it was just the girls who had to be chaste before marriage."

Remus snorted, "Witches are vindictive and have a wand. Considering that a spell was also developed to allow men to feel the pain of childbirth and menstruation, I think that a spell stopping men from sleeping with others outside their marriage is not too bad."

Emmett winced, "I hope that spell doesn't work on vampires."

* * *

The following day, the 31st of October was a little bit hectic as the Cullens' organised the Halloween costumes whilst Remus and Sirius sorted the things they needed for their own Samhain festival. Hattie was bounced between the two with a sort of bemused contentment.

When they all regrouped the lunch time of the humans, Sirius and Remus were covered with wood bark whilst Alice, Rosalie and Esme had the occasional thread and piece of fluff on their own clothes.

Sirius turned to Emmett, "What do you have on your upper lip?" Inspecting the stick-on mustache that Emmett was sporting.

"I thought I should try out a mustache...I quite I like it though." Emmet said stroking the hairs down.

"It looks like a slug crawled onto your face." Edward answered smirking from his position across the room.

"Rosie likes it!" Emmett declared with all the conviction of a person in love.

"It looks like a slug crawled onto your face." The blonde declared, "But only because you have it far too dark."

"Fine, don't be supportive." Emmett muttered, "And here I thought wives were supposed to be nice."

Carlisle rolled his eyes, "Remus, how much more do you have to do this afternoon? You are leaving tomorrow and I would love to have a chat about your condition before you leave."

It had become apparent rather quickly that Remus and Carlisle got on rather well, indeed they had spent most of the previous day discussing the history of the wizarding world.

"Of course, we have made the bonfire and fetched everything else so we should be sorted. How is the sewing going?" He asked the room in general.

"Fine, we think, we have the guys costumes' done. Alice's and mine are relatively easy, we have to fit Hattie's and then we should be done." Rosalie answered. "Are you sure that you don't want to come too?" She asked her adoptive parents and the two wizards.

Carlisle chuckled, "I think that if we all turned up then the population of Forks wouldn't recover. You all go and have fun, when you get back we can celebrate Samhain together."

Emmett looked up from the toaster which he had been inspecting his top lip on, "So what do we do at Samhain? Light a bonfire and dance around it naked, 'cause I would be up for that."

Remus laughed, "Not quite, a bonfire is lit but the dancing naked bit is saved for Beltane and only under certain circumstances. Samhain is about the dead. We will light a bonfire that we have prepared using certain woods like cyprus and yew trees they are both symbolic of death or mourning. Once that fire is lit, we then add pieces of different trees or plants and flowers that are symbolic to people who we wish to remember or that are in general just symbolic for us. After that we draw a ritual circle, acknowledge each of the seasons, the elements and the harvest. Then we cook some meat on the fire, it used to be that we would slaughter the animal but that doesn't really happen anymore, burn it as an offering, we do the same for some bread or other food. Then we will meditate or talk or sing or dance; it is a time to be joyful and remember the past and those who were a part of it. When the fire burns down at sunrise then it is all over and we can look forward to Yule."

"Ten out of ten for Professor Remus!" Sirius said with a cheer.

"Sirius Black, don't be rude." Esme declared before turning to Remus, "That was very helpful, thank you Remus. Would you like some more food?"

"No thank you." Remus said with a chuckle, "I fear that I would be a morbidly obese werewolf come the next full moon otherwise and that wouldn't be nearly so scary."

"No, that would be hilarious." Sirius stated, "Are you sure you can't manage another portion or three of this delicious pecan pie Remmie?"

"Sirus!" Esme said sharply with a very clear warning tone to her voice.

"Okay...fine. Spoil my fun!" Sirius muttered putting down the spoon of food he had been trying to force feed Remus, much to the amusement of the surrounding vampires and Hattie.

* * *

By five in the afternoon, there stood in the hall three young vampires straightening out their cuffs as they inspected themselves in the large mirror in-front of them.

"Is it me," Emmett started, "Or does this feel rather like Prom?"

"It does rather." Edward mused, "Us standing in the right place at the right time in the right clothes waiting for the girls who will inevitably be late."

"Don't be rude. You all look lovely though." Esme said as she came through from the kitchen and surveyed her adoptive sons' costumes.

Edward, dressed as he was for the fashions of the 1910s was in a Sack suit with wide lapels in a grey that complemented his hair. On his feet were a pair of Cap Toe Spat Boots, on his head a straw boater hat and in his hand a walking stick. Emmett, meanwhile was dressed for the 1930s, in a suit covered with an overcoat which he had declared made him look like an 'awesome spy', his dark hair had been slicked back and he had affected a mustache in a colour more complementary to his hair colour. Jasper had decided to forgo the uniform of a Confederate soldier and instead dress in the fashion of the 1860s of America, grey full length trousers contrasted the black a cut-away morning coat on top of a white linen collared shirt. A top hat was under his arm whilst a swagger stick was in his other hand.

"Well it feels rather familiar, I will say that..." Jasper muttered as he looked down at the front of his outfit, "Although, I don't think my clothes were ever this clean, even when they were new."

"I look awesome." Emmett stated, "I never got to wear this stuff when I was human, I didn't really have a need for it when hunting bears and deer. I think I may keep the mustache, it makes me look dignified."

"I may have a few words to say about that." Rosalie stated as she came down the stairs.

"Rosie?" Emmett gaped, "You look amazing." And she did, the smart afternoon dress which extended to just above her ankles in a patterned silk suiting her to perfection with the belted waist and large collar. Her hair was parted in the middle, sweeping in elegant waves over her shoulder.

"Why haven't we done this before?" Emmett asked, "It is so much fun." So saying he bowed low over a hand he proffered to his wife, "Would the beauteous lady care to accompany this humble gentleman on a promenade this _soire_?"

"As much as I would love to accompany you kind sir, I feel that we must wait for my companions who are, at present, attending to their toilette and will be here anon." Rosalie replied with a light laugh as she allowed Emmett to tuck her hand into the crook of his elbow.

"No need." Came a voice from the stairs, "We are already here!" With that Alice descended the stairs holding Hattie's hand.

Alice had obvious rather gone for the Great Gatbsy theme that the 1920s allowed, the loose flapper dress that she wore down to below her knee was covered with tassels and beads, on her head was a jeweled headband whilst a fur stole was across her shoulders and a feather fan in her hand.

"Alice, you look wonderful." Edward calmly stated.

"I know." Alice said happily. "But look at Hattie, isn't she adorable?"

The raven haired girl was dressed, like her mate for the 1860s, and Alice had obviously taken her inspiration for Hattie's costume from another Alice, namely _Alice in Wonderland,_ which had been published in 1865. The top half of the dress she wore was covered by an emerald caplet whilst the full skirts of her dress as well as he black shoes and white socks were visible beneath, her hair had been left loose but kept off her face by a thick band.

"You do look lovely Hattie!" Sirius said from his position, leaning against the door jamb into the sitting room.

Hattie blushed, "Thank you, but I really did nothing. Alice and Rosie and Aunt Esme did most of it."

"We had a wonderful model though." Alice stated, "Now I believe that photos are needed!"

The boys groaned as several camera were drawn out, including a magical camera by Remus.

* * *

Parking the car in Forks, the five Cullens climbed out and helped Hattie out after. The majority of the houses in the street were covered with decorations from fake spiders webs through to zombies and skeletons and there was the occasional small collection of children running and adults meandering up and down the street.

"Next year we should decorate our house." Alice declared.

"Who would see it, no-one knows where we live so what is the point?" Edward asked, slightly confused.

"It would be fun?" Came the reply.

"Miss Cullen?" Someone called from further down the street.

Both Alice and Rosalie looked up to see Miss. Cope walking towards them, the entire group gave low groans and Jasper bent down to pick up Hattie and settle her on his hip.

"Miss Cope." Alice answered with a winning smile.

"It is unusual to see you dressed up and Trick-or-Treating. Oh, and who is this?" She asked, noticing Hattie.

"Hello." Hattie answered smiling as she wrapped an arm around Jasper's neck, "I'm Harriet Potter-Volturi."

"You came to visit the school earlier this year didn't you?" Miss Cope asked, remembering the little girl who had come to see the Cullens' at school with her guardian.

Harriet nodded.

"Well, you all look so wonderful." The woman said as she scanned the party, "But don't let me keep you from your fun. I shall see you at school next week!"

As the group separated from the woman, Edward shuddered, "That woman's mind should be illegal. I worry for you Jasper, she is still inspecting your ass."

"Well that isn't creepy." The blonde empath stated, "Now, we are supposed to be Trick-or-Treating and there are houses here so shall we try and get you some candy Hattie?"

Hattie looked around, "What are we supposed to do?"

Alice laughed, "Well, you go up to a house, knock on the door, say 'trick-or-treat' and they will give you candy?"

"That's it?"

"Normally. We will be with you, so there is no need to worry." Rosalie said as she looked down with affection at the raven haired girl.

"Okay!"

With that the party approached the first house and knocked. Edward almost groaned when the door was opened by Amy Williams, a nurse at Forks Hospital.

"Oh, the Cullens', what a surprise to see you!" She stated, running her eyes over the group.

"Hello Mrs. Williams, it is lovely to see you. This is Harriet who is a guest of ours from England, she has never been Trick-or-treating so we thought we would introduce her to the American way!" Alice said, beaming up at the nurse who had a not unsubstantial crush on Carlisle.

"Well you all look brilliant, I love the theme of your costumes! Here, have some candy." She said handing Hattie a few bars of chocolate.

"Thank you very much!" Hattie said, smiling shyly up at the nurse, "I hope that you have a nice rest of Halloween."

"I am sure I will. Now, I am sure you have more houses to see to. Say hello to your father for me?"

"We will, thank you Mrs. Williams!" Edward answered as the party turned to walk back down the path to the street.

"Have I mentioned..." Rosalie started "...That I hate small town life and nosy busybodies."

* * *

An hour later and the party returned to the car having visited plenty of houses and received plenty of sweets and chocolate. Much to the distaste of the majority of the party they had met many people who they would rather have not, from Bella Swan who was at her father's house and still apparently fancied herself in love with Jasper, to Mike Newton. However, Hattie had had a good time and that was the most important thing. Sure, there was likely to be a lot of gossip about the unknown visitors at the Cullens' but that didn't matter.

As the car arrived back in front of the house soon after they were met by Carlisle, Esme, Remus and Sirius.

"Did you have a fun time then?" Esme asked when they had all gotten out of the car.

"It was interesting." Alice said diplomatically, "We got lots of candy and saw lots of people who we know."

The adults could clearly read between the lines and turned to Hattie, "Did you have fun?"

"I have so much chocolate and sweets. Uncle Remmie, do you want some chocolate? I have masses."

Remus chuckled, "Why don't we each have a piece and then we can go round to the bonfire and start Samhain? Ar you warm enough or do we need another layer?"

"Nope, I am fine. What chocolate would you like, I have never seen some of them before? What do you think a Hershey Kiss is?"

* * *

Half an hour later and the mood had changed more than a little as the group surrounded the small bonfire that had been lit at the end of the garden. The pagan feast of Samhain fell on the 31st October, it was the feast marking the end of the harvest and the summer and the beginning of winter and along with Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh formed four of the most important festivals for the traditional wizarding community. Four festivals, four seasons and the everlasting cycle of birth to death. Most families had a particular festival that they were closely associated with and whilst neither House Black nor Potter were closely associated with Samhain, there was special significance for both Sirius and Hattie to the feast that remembered and celebrated the dead. However, as it fell on the same day as the muggle holiday of Halloween they had planned things a little differently.

Approaching, rather cautiously, Esme added her symbols to the burning branches of mourning: a piece of alder tree, associated with giving and nurturing as well as a Carnation flower, symbolic of a mother's enduring love in remembrance of her first lost son. Edward a Gladiolus flower symbolic of faith, never forgetting and believing in one's own blessings but it was also what he remembered to be his mother's favourite flower; Rosalie, a branch of Juniper for healing and love; Alice, who could not recall her life as a human added a stick of bamboo for renewal; Carlisle added pink carnations that were symbolic for the remembrance of the dead; Emmett added a single yellow rose which were symbolic of his support for the friends and family of the deceased. Jasper had struggled for a while over what to add but eventually decided to add a poppy as a remembrance for those who had died for and with him when he fought as a soldier whilst both human and a vampire as well as an iris for hope. Sirius added rosemary in remembrance of his brother, Regulus, whose death still remained a mystery, as well as a poppy for those who had died in the war, including Lily and James. Remus was similarly inclined, adding a poppy as well as a zinnia for absent friends. Hattie was last and she approached the flames, tossing in gently a white rose to honour her deceased father and a lily for her mother.

As soon as the last was added the fire seemed to burn brighter and hotter. Remus and Sirius both separated from the group and started to draw runic symbols in the dust around the fire, enclosing the group in their protection.

With the last rune drawn, Sirius added a drop of his blood at the northern most point of the circle, "Magic." He called, "This Samhain ask for your blessing on our own families and those who could not be here with us." That said the whole group bowed to the north.

Remus moved to the south and added a drop of his blood upon the rune carved into the ground, "As we celebrate the harvest and autumn we ask your blessing on our homes and protection and happiness during the long nights until we see the renewal of you and yours in the spring."

Moving west Sirius added another drop of his blood, "As we face the direction of the setting of the sun we ask your blessings for those who have left us and this world, passing through the veil."

Blood added to the eastern point, Remus spoke last, "We look to the east from where the new day shall appear. We celebrate the everlasting circle of life. Our magic and lives came from you and we therefore honour you as Mother of us all."

As soon as the last words of Remus trailed off, a pulse of magic was felt by all present, it was almost as though it sprang from the very earth beneath their feet. Its heady feeling making the entire group shiver.

Sirius let out the breath that he had been holding in with a slight laugh, "I always forget how powerful a ritual feast circle can feel."

Remus smiled gently, "It feels good to have done it once more."

Emmett spoke up, slightly baffled, "We can talk now? I thought we were supposed to be solemn."

"Not anymore. We have honoured Magic and now the night is about honouring those who have left us." Remus answered, pulling packages of bread and meat out of his pockets.

"Are you just going to cook a steak on the fire?" The burly vampire asked once more, looking perplexed as Remus started to unpack some meat, apples and bread.

"Pretty much, it is sort of like an offering for the dead." Sirius answered picking up an apple and placing it into the burning embers. With the rest of the food added to the flames and embers, the animagus flicked his wand causing music to sound.

"Now, we can dance or talk or sing or think, whatever floats your boat really!" Sirius said, pulling Hattie into a rather informal version of a waltz, Hattie laughing all the while.

Carlisle looked to Remus who now stood beside him, "You honoured Magic and called her 'Mother' to you, what does that mean?"

Remus looked back to the flames around which Emmett had swept Rosalie into a dance, "Magic exists as an intangible concept that we cannot understand. We don't know why we have it or why it works exactly. It is essentially a series of unknowns: why squibs exist, why muggleborns exist, why if I were to pick up my wand and see 'accio book' a book would come to me. You see our problem? We had no way of understanding it so I suppose by personifying Magic it makes it a little easier to understand. It may be that what we felt as a pulse of magic was the impact of the runes and the blood magic that we used when we completed the circle but we cannot tell because we simply do not know. The wizarding world used to worship the concept of Magic far more, but now few publicly worship, ask for its blessing or acknowledge it as it is seen as dark and anarchic; when we were at Hogwarts Yule had already become Christmas, I am sure that Samhain is now called Halloween. You would be hard pressed to find any traditionalist Pureblood stay at Hogwarts for Christmas without a good reason, these new ways that combines the muggle holidays were not popular among those who continued these family ritual circles. It is where one of the largest separations between Pureblooded and Muggleborn witches and wizards arose, this dichotomy in tradition; some would claim that that was what the original First Blood Wizarding War started for, to hold onto the traditions. In my opinion though, whether or not Magic exists as a conceptual being should not worry you or us."

"You said that 'some would claim' that the war started for this loss of tradition, what do you think it started for or from?" Carlisle asked.

"There was always and will always be those who actively seek more power, I believe that they started the war using the excuses that would encourage more to their cause. The fact that those who they encouraged were the nobility and wealthiest in our population was just a reason for choosing those excuses." Remus answered thoughtfully.

Carlisle's next statement was interrupted by Hattie who ran over, "Uncle Carlisle! Uncle Remmie! Do you want to come and dance with us?"

Remus laughed, "Certainly little cub!" He said, picking her up and tossing her over to Carlisle with a grin.

They danced, sang and talked until the sun crested the horizon, telling stories of those who had left them including tales of the Marauders' days at Hogwarts. By that time all the was left of their fire were ashes that were scattered by the morning breeze and Hattie was curled up asleep in Rosalie's lap. Sirius stood from the ground and stretched his back, yawning before he started to scuff away the runes with his foot, looking up to see the blonde vampire disappear into the house to put his goddaughter to sleep.

"I think that Remmie and I will need a nap before we go anywhere!" He said inspecting his watch as he started towards the door into the house, "Would you mind if we two imposed on your hospitality for a bit longer?"

Esme looked up, "Of course not, feel free to stay as long as you need. Where are you going next?"

"Washington, we need to visit the American Ministry to speak to the Minister and then we have a meeting with the headmaster at Ilvermorny. Fun times!"

Jasper opened the door into the house, asking "Isn't that the magic school in America?"

"Indeed." Remus answered, "It is in Massachusetts I think. We just wanted to see what their policy is for intake."

"They limit who can go to the school?" Alice asked.

"It tends to be geographically, mainly because most countries have different policies on what should and should not be taught in terms of dark and light magic. As Hattie technically lives in Italy, the school that she could geographically go to is Beauxbatons in France. As her parents were British and she is a Lady there, she could attend Hogwarts, which Dumbledore would love. However, Ilvermorny is a possibility, as she grows older and nearer her creature inheritance, Hattie will feel worse separation pains from Jasper as he is her mate. We are hoping that this will open the possibility of her attending school in America where she is away from all the politics and chaos of Britain where she is the 'Girl-Who-Lived'. These plans are still a work in progress so we can't expect too much at the moment it must be said and it may be that going to Hogwarts is the best way to ensure that she is meeting the best people and going to the school that her parents went to."

Yawning once more Sirius announced, "Now, I really need to go to bed. Thank you for joining in our Samhain festival and I will see you when I have managed to get a few hours sleep."

* * *

 **I must apologise for the costume description, I am not very good at describing clothes nor Trick-or-Treating from the sound of things!**

 **Next time: Sirius and Remus visit Ilvermorny (which is at the moment the clear leader in the poll that is on my page if you haven't already seen it) and we might get to meet some more characters from _Twilight_. Remus is going to find his mate and I have decided who it will be, I am not sure when this grand meeting will happen but it should be interesting. As ever please review, I love hearing your thoughts and ideas! F200x**


	19. Chapter 19

**I have very little idea how Rowling envisaged Ilvermorny and the American schooling system during this time period so I have improvised from the map that was produced showing the location of the magical schools and my own ideas. Most of the information about the MACUSA comes from _Fantastic Beasts,_ although I have changed some of it to fit the modern times and the story.**

 **Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Twilight.**

* * *

 ** _Update on the Committee for Research and Study- By Rita Skeeter_**

 _Exactly two months until the closure of the first competition of the CRS, we here at the Daily Prophet thought you may need an update and a reminder! We have spoken to the offices of the CRS who have released this statement:_

 _"The Committee for Research and Study are pleased to announce that we have indeed received considerable interest in the competition and are in the process of working through the different papers and applications that have been sent in so far. None have been considered so far and all will be looked at anonymously so that we do this in the fairest manner possible. Once the competition closes at the end of the year, the twenty-five specialists shall convene for three weeks, one week for each of the three titles. After the paper applications have been looked at then the Committee shall invite the top ten to discuss the work privately. Finally, on the 28th February there shall be a public award ceremony and winner of each category shall have the opportunity to present their work. After this will be a series of lectures across the world to allow more people to attend, some of these may be in hospitals and schools to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to consider this new research._

 _The CRS would like to remind the public that the competition is not the only part of our work, if anyone is planning research work, they are welcome to apply for funding which is, again, assessed by the Committee members. However, there is still plenty of time to enter if you wish, you can be certain that each entry shall be considered fairly and equally."_

 _So there you have it, dear readers! An very interesting glimpse into the competition workings. Lord Black, who of course founded the competition, has not yet announced the location of the award ceremony, however, it is going to have to be very large as there is a huge amount of interest. There have been some who have publicly stated that they have entered, including the up-and-coming author, Gilderoy Lockhart. We wish them all well and hope for a British win!_

* * *

The entrance to the Magical Congress of the Unites States of America was found in New York and protected by wards stronger than even those of the Ministry of Magic in Britain. Called the Woolworth building, it was both a magical and muggle space and about as mundane in appearance from the exterior as the Leaky Cauldron in London. Events in the 1920s had ensured that there had been a long period of wariness within MACUSA, this had only been recently declining. Most would not begrudge them their caution, after all they had experienced Grindelwald and the near exposure of wizarding kind. The law that banned the fraternising of No-Majs' and their magical counterparts, called the Rappaport's Law, had lasted from the 18th century until, around half a century ago, it had been repealed.

Remus could not blame the American Congress for their wariness; while the British had not suffered any major exposure since the witch trials under James I, the Americans had endured the Salem Witch Trials, exposure by creatures and each other, as well as Grindelwald impersonating one of their own. However, the changes to the Rappaport's Law ensured that a No-Maj could marry a witch or wizard, so long as they were unable, either by spell or oath, to reveal the existence of the magical community. While there had been witches and wizards born to a No-Maj and magic person before this, they had tended to be secreted away and their heritage hidden.

As he passed through the door to the Woolworth building and into the governmental center of the American magical community, Remus looked around the large space. As he and Sirius companion headed towards the welcome desks, he was not surprised to see the watchful gaze of a handful of witches and wizards. Sirius was well known around the world now, not only did his past history with Azkaban ensure he was well-known, his creation of the Committee of Research and Study had ensured that his societal prominence was continued. Some surveyed him with lust, some with respect while others still looked with envy and anger. It did not matter though, Heidi was always prominently seen beside Sirius, it was therefore clear that Sirius was not single; moreover, the man was pretty much untouchable, he had friends around the world and in high places. This was evidenced by the fact that they were almost immediately attended when they reached the desk and within a few minutes found themselves in the office of the President of the magical community of America with nary a wait.

* * *

After a brief repast and portkey, the President led the pair down the tree lined drive to the great gates of Ilvermorny. The building that stood behind them was imposing to say the least; it was perhaps unsurprising, as the school was modeled on Hogwarts, that it was, in essence, a castle. Dominating the structure was a huge circular tower that rose above the surrounding buildings, around the surrounding quadrangles were large Gothic ranges of buildings and turrets.

Remus' and Sirius' inspection of the exterior of the school was interrupted by their companion, "Headmaster Weiss has been headmaster here for about five years now. Most headmasters and headmistresses do not stay in position for more than fifteen years."

Remus turned to the President, "I've read that before. Why is that? Dumbledore has been headmaster at Hogwarts for over thirty years now."

"Ilvermorny believe that there is a need for fresh blood so to speak. Headmasters and mistresses who can bring something new to the school so it can progress. If someone is in power for too long then the system stagnates...or at least that is the theory. Every three years, the School Council evaluate the headmaster or mistresses performance and, if necessary, take steps to rectifying the situation."

Sirius frowned, "That makes sense, Dumbledore is rather stuck in times...as well as his self importance... And Weiss? What was his subject?"

"Originally magical history but he has also made a study of No-Maj history. Speak of the devil!" The President exclaimed as he looked up to spy the figure standing under the great gates to the school.

Sirius and Remus were more than a little shocked when they saw the man themselves, even though wizards tended to age more slowly, Weiss was clearly young to be the headmaster of such a school, certainly no older than fifty. His blonde hair flowed over his shoulders and a beard trimmed short across his face while brown eyes carefully surveyed the pair of English wizards, taking in their appearance and clothes with a quick sweep.

"Greetings Headmaster Weiss," the President said, "May I present Lord Sirius Black, Earl of Dartmoor, and Mr. Remus Lupin?"

"It is an honour." Weiss replied with a half bow, his deep voice echoing slightly under the stone arch, "Will you be staying President?"

"I am afraid I have a meeting with the head of Law Enforcement I must get to... there have been some disappearances that we need to look into. I am grateful that you could do this for me."

With a nod at the three and a twist, the President disapparated, leaving behind him Remus, Sirius and the Headmaster.

Weiss tilted his head to the side, "Lord Black, Mr Lupin, come. We shall converse in my office. No need to stand out here and get cold." So saying he turned on his heel and marched into the first quadrangle beyond the arch.

The large quadrangle was not unlike the courtyards of Hogwarts, each side was cloistered with large gothic arches and behind that, rose a further two floors and a steep roof. Large oriel windows were spread throughout and from one open one could be heard a small explosion followed by a few groans of irritated sounded students.

Weiss looked up to the window with a raised eyebrow, "I believe that is the first years' charms class... Always a risky class to teach, I believe that is one of the reasons I chose to teach history, no need for wands to be drawn in the classroom!"

Sirius smiled appreciatively, "We basically had a competition to see who could make the largest explosion in charms... Sadly I never won, to much fierce competition."

Weiss' office was not far, nor particularly deep within the school; clearly signed, it was quite unlike the entrance to Hogwarts headmaster's office which was all but hidden by a labyrinth of corridors and stairs. It was decorated as one might expect, large book cases dominating the space as well as several other knick-knacks ranging from a snow globe through to a beaters' bat. Instead of sitting at the large oak meeting table that sat at one end, the headmaster headed to his own desk.

"Take a seat," The headmaster offered as he himself walked around to the far side.

Once all three were seated in their comfortable chairs, the headmaster once more stared deeply at the pair for a moment, "How much of the early history of the American wizarding people do you two know?"

As Sirius made a minor face of horror at the impromptu quiz, Remus looked straight at Weiss, "It was originally founded in 1693 and modeled on the British Ministry."

Weiss smirked slightly, "Well, that is a start at least. What about the aurors and their history?"

"Is this about the twelve families who basically started the Congress and the Aurors?" Sirius asked, familiar with the idea from his time as an auror for the British Ministry before his arrest.

"Yes. My own family is one of the twelve. Due to my ancestor who decided to volunteer as an auror, my family hold a special place within American society. The other families include Graves, O'Brian and Lopez."

Sirius frowned, "Without being rude, why does this matter?"

Weiss chuckled, "If you knew this history, then you would know that there is a rather special name on that list of original aurors... Abraham Potter."

Sirius looked to Remus before looking back at Weiss who sat rather smugly behind the desk, "You are serious?"

"Indeed. Abraham did not live to a great age, nor have any children. However, his elder brother, who returned to England after their Lord uncle died without an heir, was the one whose line now ends with Harriet Potter."

"How was this missed?" Remus asked, "I would have thought the papers would have made a big deal out of it if they had found out."

"It is a common enough name I suppose, so the relationship must have been forgotten, or assumed not to exist." Weiss mused, "However, when I got your letter I went and checked whether there was a connection. While your goddaughter may not be a descendant of the offspring of Abraham Potter, it does not really matter to us. She is the last of the line."

"And this is a good thing?" Remus asked, wary of his cub gaining even more fame.

Weiss leaned forward, forearms folded on the green leather of his desk, "It matters to me and many others. Apart from anything else, it means that Miss Potter could attend the school in her own right without any explanations, justifications or special permissions. After all, Abraham Potter attended the school, his name is clearly on the Role of Honour as graduating in 1693. There is a memorial to him and his fellows in the south quadrangle, all twelve of those men graduated from Ilvermorny. The descendants are now rather far and few between. Out of the original twelve, two survived without any children, Potter being one. There are only five, including myself, who are directly linked back by surname. My studies suggest that two lines have completely died out while the rest have married into other families. When I was here, I was the only descendant of the Twelve, since I left thirty years ago there has only been one other. Does this make sense so far?"

Sirius frowned, "I suppose. Does it not matter she is not direct?"

There was a chuckle, "Not particularly, she has the same surname and we can trace her lineage. Out of the Twelve only two survived into old age, the rest died too young. The men sacrificed a huge amount and to not appreciate that is wrong. However, I suppose it is rather like Britain, there are some who are awfully snobby about their ever so tenuous link to the Twelve while there are others who couldn't care less and, while they remember their ancestors, do not wish to be treated with the same deference."

"Oh, those sound familiar character types!" Remus chuckled, "May I ask who else knows of this connection?"

"No one outside of this room I believe." Weiss stated, "If she came here then it is likely the connection would be made. We have a school club for those wishing to join the Aurors and they are keen on the history so would likely work out, however, for the moment, I leave the information in your hands. If you wish it later, I will verify the line publicly; you might be interested to know that on January 8th every year we have a thanksgiving ceremony for the Twelve in Woolworth building. However, I believe you are here to talk about the school rather than my interest in your ward's ancestry! What do you need to know?"

Sirius frowned, "At the moment, Hattie could attend Beauxbatons, Ilvermorny and Hogwarts due to our current home in Italy and her parents' _alma mater._ Each has their dangers and each has their positives. I do not know enough about Ilvermorny, we need to know more."

Weiss settled back into his chair and steepled his fingers in front of his face, "While we may be modeled on Hogwarts, we are not Hogwarts. We have only existed for four centuries at any rate; we have no great squids in our lakes, no ghosts teaching history, nor Forbidden Forests at the bottom of our lawns. We are different from the other schools. For instance, every student has to leave their wand at school when they leave for their holidays."

Sirius interrupted, a little baffled by the idea, "But why? Surely that is dangerous?"

"Why?" Weiss asked, "You were born and lived as a pureblood, therefore, you are aware that it was possible for you to use magic in the holidays without the Ministry realising?"

"Because of the family wards and other people using magic in the same space?"

"Indeed. The Trace that every European child has up until the age of seventeen is on the person... not the wand. By removing this opportunity for purebloods to use magic in the holidays, we remove the bias and favour that the purebloods enjoy in Britain. It means that the child of a pureblood should have the same amount of practical experience as one born of a No-Maj. Moreover, it means that the students have a break from magic...too much magic can be damaging on the core of the young. Of course too, there is no likelihood of accidents or exposure to No-Majs'."

Lupin frowned, "But what if they are in danger?"

Weiss shrugged, "Every magical child has a monitoring charm placed on them when they receive their first vaccines... If they are hurt then we can know and the MCPA can deal with it. It acts rather like the Trace that you once had, we can tell the level and power of accidental magic and their general health. It, like the Trace, is removed as soon as a child turns seventeen."

"MCPA?" Sirius asked.

"Magical Child Protection Agency. Rather like the No-Maj governments have."

Remus looked over at Sirius, "It does make sense."

The anigmaus pursed his lips, "And the classes?"

Weiss pulled a piece of parchment from a drawer in his desk and passed it across, "We have more than normal, partly because, in the first year, each student takes ten. Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, Astronomy, Runes, Magical History, Care of Magical creatures, a sport of some sort and general studies. General studies is a mix of everything for the first year, politics, basic economics, essay writing, math, No-Maj and Magical studies and a little bit of health studies; it was originally started to ensure that students actually understood the basics of society."

Both the English wizards were impressed, "That isn't bad." Sirius said as he perused the list, "What sports do you offer?"

"It varies year on year, but Quadpot, Quidditch, speed flying are the main core sports."

"What about second and third years?"

"Students start to pick from then. General Studies is stopped and sport is done in their own time as a club. Most students will then add on two subjects, but some will take up to five. They can include, offensive and defensive magic, healing, geography, arithmancy, politics or economics. It is up to each individual student, some may choose to drop some from their first years, others will continue them all. At the end of the third year they take a set of exams for their first competency certificates. At the end of their fifth year, they take their second competency certificates."

"That is when in Hogwarts we would take our O.W.L.s." Remus murmured.

"Indeed. In America, the first certificates show an understanding of the subject. The second certificate shows a higher level. The third is completed in the final year of schooling and is equivalent to the NEWT exams you take in England. Some students will drop a subject after the first certificate if they cannot cope. Most will leave with five certificates in their final year."

Remus thought for a second, "I suppose that makes more sense than taking five years without formal exams before OWLs and then NEWTs two years later."

Weiss smiled, "It seems to work for the moment. In their final two years, all students have to take classes of General Studies once a week. Topics include things like accounting, basic household charms, cooking, job application and interview practice, classes on Masteries. Hopefully then, most students are capable of surviving without running home to Mommy every time they need their socks darned or some food for a date."

Remus glanced over at Sirius, "That would have been well appreciated by Sirius I am sure... Didn't you set fire to your kitchen trying to peel potatoes for a date with Marlene?"

Sirius sniffed, "No comment...Traitor! Headmaster? We know from the goblins that my goddaughter will come into a creature inheritance. She also has met her mate. What provisions would you be able to make?"

The headmaster was not phased, "About sixty percent of our magically born students come into a creature inheritance so that is not unusual. When she does come into her creature inheritance, you will be informed and you will be allowed to remove her for as long as you, and we, feel is necessary. So long as she is not a danger to other students, it doesn't matter to us. For instance, a witch who comes into a veela inheritance is expected to be able to control her allure to a level that doesn't disrupt others, before she returns. We will, of course, assist where we can with the catching up et cetera. For a student to already have a mate before they arrive is more unusual. Does this mate live with you at the moment?"

"Not full time." Sirius replied, "He and his family live in America, we are primarily based out of Italy."

Weiss made a note on a piece of parchment, "That makes it easier, if you lived with him full time then the separation would be harder on them both. As it stands, we cannot plan too far ahead. The existing provisions at the school are that a mated student may visit their partner at the weekends from time to time, so long as they have permission from their guardians and their tutor. However, it has to be done case by case as the strength of the bond matters. I would, however, try to ensure that you have a house in America under your name and registered with MACUSA as your residence. It just makes life a little easier."

Sirius nodded slowly, "That makes sense. I shall inform the mate as, I am sure, he would want to know. I shall speak too the goblins about the house... I can't remember whether Hattie has a house this side of the pond."

"That would be useful. I am afraid that I know little about the routines in Hogwarts, nor about the pastoral care. There are four houses there?"

"Yes, students are sorted in their first year." Remus replied, settling into his seat.

"We are the same here. A new student is sorted into their house then receives their wand from our own stores. Without permission from me or any special event, their wand will not leave the school grounds until after they graduate. The Houses are supposed to represent qualities within the student; they are commonly thought to refer to professions later in life, scholars, adventures, warriors or healers. However, that is not always true as it is rarely so clearly defined. Each House has a housemaster and a housemistress. Then each year in each house has a Tutor who change each year. That means that a student should always have someone to go to. I suppose Hogwarts is the same in that respect?"

Remus frowned, "Not really, we have housemasters and mistresses but not Tutors. What are their main duties?"

"They mainly deal with the academic and pastoral sides of a student's life here. If someone is failing a subject, then it is the job of the Tutor to advise or help. If someone is being bullied, then the Tutor will sort the situation out. Each House also has a Matron whose rooms can be accessed from the common room if need be. The Matron doesn't teach normally, but is there to ensure that dorm rooms are tidied and that everyone is healthy. She doesn't treat ill pupils but is just there to make sure that no-one has to go traipsing about the school at night if they feel ill!"

Remus and Sirius were more than a little shocked by this level of care within the house, "That is a huge amount of care for one House," Remus said.

Weiss made an agreeing sound in his throat, "Each House has ten staff members attached to it at any one time. The Tutors all have a duty night in the House, they have to spend a couple of hours sitting in the common room helping with homework if need be. I am rather grateful I no longer have to do that...tedious doesn't cover it!"

Sirius rubbed his face even more concerned about the state of his old school, "Are the other schools like this, is Hogwarts just pathetic in comparison?"

The headmaster's eyes softened slightly, "I would not say that Hogwarts is pathetic; academically, it has produced some of the most wonderful minds of our age. However, it leaves many slipping through the cracks either because of bullying, academics or social problems. Dumbledore has been headmaster since 1965... the headmaster before that was Dippet, he became headmaster in 1925. Since that time, Ilvermorny has had four headmasters and three headmistresses. Hogwarts needs a change...either the present Headmaster forced to adapt...or a new headmaster to take the school into the modern age. While I would be the first to admit, we are not perfect here either, we at least have systems to try to limit the damage."

Sirius rubbed his face, "I have a seat on the Hogwarts' Board... but I fear that I cannot do much there."

"Change happens on a small scale." Weiss mused as he tapped a single finger on his desk, "The first change I made when I became Headmaster was to stick a fountain in the east quadrangle. It didn't have a huge impact but it certainly made me feel a bit better and feel that I could change things... Start small with the things you know you can change and work from there, bit by bit. The Board is always the first port of call, however, there is the Ministry. Ilvermorny is not subject to the controls of MACUSA and never has been; Hogwarts however, is to a far greater extent. If nothing comes from the Board, use your political power to get the Ministry involved. You have the power and it is not Dumbledore's territory completely there. If all else fails, the International Confederation of Wizards has an Educational Office. Try approaching them for more help if it ever gets to that point. While they cannot interfere, they can recommend an investigation by the ICW into a school, as long as their is evidence. The majority of parents care about their children, always remember that so long as you have proof of a problem and a possible solution then changes tend to be easy to implement."

Remus frowned, "Why are you giving this advice?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Weiss chuckled, "The school that a child attends is determined by where they live normally... It won't particularly affect us here. My conscious, though, cannot allow children to suffer because of the ineptitude of their elders! Bad education breeds a bad future."

Sirius sighed as he fiddled with the piece of parchment he still held in his hand, "True. So Beauxbatons and the other schools are the same as here?"

"Beauxbatons certainly has the same system of tutors. As you know, they follow the same exam system as you and have OWLs in their sixth year and NEWTs in their seventh. Maxime, the headmistress, has been there for twelve years now I believe, she is an...imposing...character to say the least. The students at Mahoutokoro, in Japan, start school age seven, although don't board until they are eleven. You have to realise, every school is different and every country wants different things, however, ensuring their students are safe and well should be the most important thing for any school."

With another deep sigh, Sirius stood, "Headmaster Weiss, we won't take up any more of your time. Thank you for all the help you have given us. We are very grateful."

"You are more than welcome. Think nothing of it. All witches and wizards deserve an education they can be proud of, my father-in-law was at Hogwarts...Got in rather a lot of trouble there I believe! I wonder whether it would have happened if he had a tutor to check up on him!"

"What was his name?"

Weiss chuckled, "Newton Scamander? I married his daughter."

"Well, it is a small world!" Remus proclaimed once he recovered from a slight moment of shock, "He has retired now, hasn't he?"

"Indeed, to southern England; his wife, Tina, was a student here and later an Auror. Actually, the both make their way over here occasionally to lecture still. I think it was after their son had his first child, Rolf, that they both decided to settle down a little."

Sirius snorted, "I met Mr Scamander once, I didn't think he knew what 'settling down' was..."

Weiss laughed, "I would agree, the last time that my wife, Millie, and I went to visit, we ended up having to assist in the capture of a whole crate of nifflers that someone had given to him after a raid on an illegal breeding ring. Never want to look at one of those things again!"

"I can imagine!" Remus laughed as they were shown out of the office and into the quadrangle.

"Lord Black, Mr Lupin, please don't hesitate to write if you need help. We would of course, welcome your ward here, but I would be disappointed if you did not explore other options."

Sirius started towards the gate before he turned, "I am not Hattie's adopted father. That title belongs to another. He will, I am certain, wish to meet you before we make any final decisions. Would we be able to sort something out?"

The headmaster tilted his head as he surveyed the pair carefully, " I am sure we can organise something. Whatever the case, I shall see you at the CRS meeting in January."

Sirius nodded in acknowledgement before he walked through the gates and, along with Remus, apparated back to MACUSA.

* * *

While Remus and Sirius were away life had continued in the Cullen household, or at least attempted to continue.

Unlike in Volterra, where Hattie was generally surrounded by the thick walls of the castle or outer walls, the Cullens' house in Washington was surrounded by thick woods. Therefore, it was perhaps unsurprising that Hattie was far more in tune with her animal form here than she was in Italy. The thick woodlands provided interesting places to explore and find when one was a snow leopard cub. It was perhaps why, when she had woken up and broken her fast, Hattie had found herself once more in her feline form and pottering around the woods. Hattie wouldn't complain though, it meant she got out of her maths lessons!

Losing all sense of time, the little spotted cub had a thoroughly wonderful time examining the woods and chasing a leaf across the grass. Whenever she batted it, the leaf made a perfectly satisfactory crackling noise that amused her feline mind no end.

"Why is there a snow leopard here?" Came the voice of a very large and tanned boy who cautiously entered the other end of the clearing.

"Mraow" kitten Hattie answered as she paused at her batting of the leaf.

There was a pause as two more topless young men entered the small clearing, "No clue... It has to be a pet right?"

Hattie was rather confused by this turn of events, she had been quite happy in her explorations but now found herself in a clearing with three rather large and shirtless men. She sniffed slightly and looked around, trying to work out where she was. Hattie was certain that Jasper would have missed her by now, but she had just been distracted by the very interesting leaf that had skittered across the forest floor making a very interesting noise. Once she had ascertained that she had no clue where she was, the little cub once more fully considered the men in front of her.

The smallest one (although that wasn't saying much) had inched himself closer and lowered himself down nearer her own level.

"It's really cute, Sam!" He said over his shoulder.

'Sam must be the enormous one' Hattie mused as the man in question answered.

"Yes, but what it is doing here Jared? It doesn't have a collar does it?"

"Can't see one, poor thing is soaking though, this long grass is still wet from the rain yesterday."

It was only then that Hattie realised that she was actually rather cold, whilst snow leopards were used to the cold and damp, she was only a little cub and therefore, rather downy in places and not completely suited to running around in the long damp grass. She sniffed slightly and was suddenly aware that the three men smelled rather like Uncle Mooney, perhaps she had found some more werewolves?

Before she could consider whether she should be running or not, she found herself pulled six foot into the air by a hand on the scruff of her neck with a small 'meep' of surprise. Hanging, trapped by her instincts which told her to relax, the little cub could do nothing as another large hand tickled her under the chin and checked for a collar in her damp fur.

"What do we do with it, Sam?" The one who held her, apparently called Jared, asked.

The large of the men, who must be Sam, frowned, "No clue. Poor thing will probably die of exposure if it rains again tonight. Paul, any ideas?"

"Nope. Is it a male or female?"

By this point, Hattie was very much ahead of her instincts and was very offended when the one holding her inspected her tummy.

"Female." He declared, "Can we not keep it?"

It was on natural that at this point Potter luck kicked in...and she turned back into a little girl... in front of three men who smelled like werewolves.

The swear words that came out of the mouths of the three men do not bare repeating, especially when one considers who they were said in front of.

Hattie had been promptly dropped when she transformed and now sat in the damp grass of a November in Washington. Wide eyed she looked up at the three men as they swore, it got to the point she was actually quite impressed and even learned a few new ones.

When silence reigned once more, she opened her mouth, "Hello?"

Sam looked down from his great height, "Hi..."

"My name is Hattie."

"...Okay..."

The little girl bit her lip slightly, unsure what to do now as the three seemed incapable of rational or coherent conversation, after a few more seconds of silence, she stood and backed up a few steps.

"...I'm going to go now..."

It seemed, however, that the three had come to, "WAIT!"

Hattie froze and cocked her head, "Yes..."

"How... Are you a shifter too?" Sam said in apparent disbelief.

The girl wrinkled her nose, "I don't know what a shifter is? Are you not werewolves?"

"You just turned from a leopard cub into a tiny girl...how can you not be a shifter" Paul growled slightly

Sam noticed that the girl took a step back and so, after glaring at Paul, hunkered down to be closer to her level, "What Paul means is, how long have you been able to change into a cub?"

Hattie considered the question, "Six months I think. Can you change into an animal too? You smelt like a werewolf."

Sam turned to Jared, "Would you mind?"

The boy smirked, "Not at all!" With that the boy turned into a ginormous wolf, leaving his shorts in tatters around him.

It was Hattie's turn to gape, however, it took a lot more than turning into a giant wolf to phase the girl and she wandered over to the lupine figure.

"You are so huge! My uncle Remmie is a werewolf so only turns at the full moon and my uncle Siri turns into a huge dog but he can keep his clothes when he changes. Can you not do that?"

The two boys and one wolf were slightly shocked by the statements and question, Sam coughed a little, "A werewolf?"

"Yup!" Harriet stated proudly, "But he never hurts anyone," she was keen to reiterate.

"...Good..." Paul replied with a queer look on his face as he looked at the girl who was now stroking the giant wolf's muzzle.

"Ummm... Hattie?"

"Hmm?"

"Where do you live?"

The girl, who was still stroking the giant wolf, looked over, "Normally Italy but we are staying in Forks to see some friends."

"Where in Forks?" Sam asked, trying to work out whether there was a family they should be keeping an eye out for in the town.

Before Hattie could answer, another voice entered the conversation, "That would be us..."

* * *

Despite vampire senses and a keen desire to protect Hattie, it took a while for the Cullens' to realise that their little charge was not, as expected, sitting on the terrace doing her work. And, by the point that they realised she had gone when Esme went to deliver some cake and hot chocolate for elevenses, it was clear that she had transformed into her feline state. Within two minutes of the discovery, a family meeting had been called of the five Cullen members who had remained at the house, Alice and Edward having left to get more paint gun pellets an hour prior.

"WHERE HAS SHE GONE?" Jasper yelled, terrified for his little mate who, while in her cub state, was even more vulnerable, especially in the expansive woods of Washington.

Carlisle at once took charge, realising that Jasper was beyond making plans, Emmett had already had to stop the blonde vampire from racing off in search of her.

"Jasper, we need you to calm down. We know Hattie was in her cub state when she wandered off. We have a rough direction so we can follow that. The problem is that the dew has meant that her scent has disappeared. Now, Rosalie and Emmett will head west while Esme, you and I head east. Right?"

Jasper nodded shakily, almost vibrating with worry. While their bond was growing, it was nowhere near strong enough to allow her to track her just from their bond.

"Does everyone have phones?" Esme asked with a very worried frown.

After some mumbles of conformation, the group rushed into the woods following the ever fading scent of the cub. Once they came to the point where it was lost in a rather large patch of grass, the group split into two as three figures headed east while two headed west.

Emmett and Rosalie ran as though the hounds of hell were chasing them, which was a rather apt simile as they were both aware that they had to deal with the Volturi, Sirius and Remus if anything happened to Harriet.

"EMMETT!" Rosalie called after a few minutes as she stopped abruptly, "Here, what do you think?"

The male vampire sniffed the area carefully, "It does smell like her. Quick, call the others!"

As his wife called the rest of the search party, Emmett suddenly became aware that they were in the area of no-man's land between the territory of the vampires and wolves.

"ROSIE! The border!" He called back in desperation to his wife, who had been forced to stop to make the call, hoping that the cub had not gone further.

He could hear them now and smell them, he didn't know that a pack had phased, let alone one so big. Three of them, one of whom was clearly in his dog state. Hattie was, of course, sounded completely unaffected by the whole situation and seemed intent on making friends with the damn dogs. They were in the clearing that they first met the Quileute pack, it was the only area that was no-mans land now and remained a symbolic area of their treaty.

 _"Normally Italy but we are staying in Forks to see some friends."_ Emmett could hear the girl say through the ever thinning trees.

 _"Where in Forks?"_ Emmett snarled in his head, if those dogs hurt Hattie, they were in for a world of pain from not just the Cullens, but the Volturi and a group of wizards. He could see them now as he strode through the last of the trees that surrounded the clearing

"That would be us..." He proclaimed. The vampire could see the three dogs at once stiffen and the two who were not already phased, start to shake.

Hattie however, unaware of the considerable tension that had just appeared in the air, turned from the wolf but continued to stroke his giant mussel, "Emmie! Hello... Look who I met. Isn't Jared a lovely wolf! They saved me when I got lost as a cub."

Emmett frowned, aware that the girl was still standing beside three shifters, "Hattie, you can't just run off like that... we were so scared, Jasper just about had a fit."

"I'm sorry... But look! I made some friends!"

Emmett swallowed a laugh at the blunt proclamation and Hattie's desire to make friends, he was sure that it wouldn't be long before she brought home a cerberus and declared it her new friend and the cutest thing ever. The faces of the two shifters who still retained their human states were wonderful. The smaller looked rather disgusted while the tallest looked down at the girl with shock.

"I wouldn't go that far." He muttered, too low for Hattie to hear.

At this point Rosalie burst into the clearing, having informed the rest of the family about the discovery of the little witch.

"HATTIE!" She called, panic written across her beautiful face. Within an instant she was beside her husband and staring across at the other small group that included the object of their searching.

"Hiya Rosie! I'm sorry I made you worried, but there was this really interesting leaf and then these three gentlemen saved me. They are like Uncle Siri!"

Rosalie turned to her husband and muttered, "A leaf..." before she turned to the dogs, she was aware she couldn't be too rude to them in-front of Hattie as, she too, had heard the girl's proclamation of their new relationship, "Thank you for your assistance. If we could have Hattie back we would be most grateful."

Emmett was almost impressed, Rosalie had actually managed to speak to the shifters without swearing but he was well aware of why this was necessary. After all, Hattie was _still_ standing beside them and _still_ stroking one of them, it was odd though, the wolf seemed utterly relaxed under her ministrations, unlike the other two who were glaring at the vampires with loathing and the occasional shudder of rage. The male vampire cocked his head slightly at the sight, wondering whether this was something they should be concerned about, the dog looked so relaxed and content that he would fall over soon if he was not careful. He was interrupted from his musings by the voice of the tallest of the three Quileutes', likely the alpha.

"You can't be serious? That girl just transformed from a snow leopard into a human, talks about werewolves and uncles who can turn into dogs and has holidays with vampires... We need some explanations, right damn now."

Emmett's reply was interrupted as three more Cullens' crashed into the clearing, Jasper was clearly lacking any sort of control and was, instead, steadily growling.

This did not seem to deter Hattie who skipped over to her mate, leaving a wolf who whined slightly as she left him.

"Hi Jasper." She proclaimed as she hugged his leg before she was quickly picked up and settled on her mate's hip as he nuzzled his nose into her damp hair to attempt to smother the smell of dog that clung to her.

"Cullen." The alpha of the Quileutes' growled with a very clear warning tone as the rest of his pack shifted carefully, aware they were now very much outnumbered.

Carlisle turned from Hattie and Jasper to the Alpha, "Harriet is not a danger to you nor your people. She is not a shifter like you but something else. Would you like a full explanation, as I fear I cannot do that without the help of some others."

Sam eyed the group warily, "I take it that these 'others' include the uncles that she mentioned?"

"Yes."

"Bring them here and we will talk."

Carlisle sighed, rubbing his temples slightly, "Fine. We will meet you here tomorrow morning here with Hattie and her uncles. Will you bring your Elders?"

Sam frowned, slightly surprised that the vampires were being so cooperative, "We shall speak to our Elders and see whether they wish to come. I am certain a few will attend. But if you do not attend then the treaty is voided!"

The patriarch of the vampires nodded, aware that this was a distinct possibility, "Understood. Until the morrow then."

With that the vampires turned, Hattie still in Jasper's arms, although she did wave a small hand in the direction of her new friends and disappeared into the trees as fast as they had come.

* * *

By the time they had returned to their home, it was lunch time and Esme had plied Hattie with pleas to 'never do that again' along side food. The little girl had almost ended up in tears when she realised how much panic she had caused and had spent a good hour sitting on Esme's lap after lunch, letting the vampire mother gently stroke her hair and read with her.

This peaceful time was disturbed by the house phone ringing incessantly for a few moments before, with a sigh, Esme reached for it where it sat on the coffee table.

"Hello? Cullen residence?"

" _Esme? Hi, it's Carmen."_

"Carmen, how are you all? It has been a while."

" _We are very well, thank you. We got a message from Alice saying to come and visit for a few days. Any clue what that is about?"_

Esme frowned, "No actually. She and Edward are out shopping for the day. But you know Alice; you are, as ever, welcome. When will you arrive?"

 _"Just over three hours. We are in British Colombia at the moment. Are you sure this isn't a problem?"_

"Of course not Carmen. We do have Jasper's little mate staying with us at the moment and her two uncles."

" _Right...Well we will, of course, not bring any harm to the child."_

 _"_ Then you are welcome. We will see you all soon!"

" _Goodbye."_

Esme looked down at the girl in her lap who looked up at her with curious eyes, "Well we will be having some visitors later then!"

"Really?" Hattie asked, "Who?"

"The Denali coven. We need to see where the rest of the household is now."

Carlisle entered the room at the point having heard the phone conversation from his office, "No need!"

"Carlisle! Alice is up to some mischief again..."

"When is she not?" He replied, "I am going to send a message to Volterra and tell the Volturi and make sure Sirius knows. He and Remus need to be here for tomorrow to meet with the Quileutes', I am sure they would prefer to come tonight rather than tomorrow morning now."

Esme nodded, "Make sure to convince the Volturi that little Hattie here doesn't need the whole Guard to protect her. I am sure that there is likely to be an overreaction otherwise."

Hattie giggled, well aware of the Volturi's tendency to overreact when it came to her safety.

Carlisle smiled at the sound, "What do you take me for? I am glad that the Denali already know about Hattie, Sirius and Remus... Makes the whole situation much easier!"

Esme stood, still holding Hattie. The Volturi had chosen to visit the Denali after it was realised that Jasper was Hattie's mate. The Alaskan coven were frequent visitors to the Cullens' and therefore the Volturi had been keen to ensure there was going to be no problems or dangers facing their little princess should they visit. It was quite a good thing that Eleazar and Carmen were well known to the Volturi as old members of the Guard as she was sure that, if this history had not existed, the coven would have been watched very carefully by the Volturi.

* * *

Sirius and Remus had been in a meeting for the CRS in New York when they were met by an owl from the Volturi warning them of the visitors in Washington as well as the meeting they would have to attend the following day with the shifters. While the former did not really matter, the latter was of some concern to the Volturi and it was clear that the kings wanted an update immediately before and after the event. Both Remus and Sirius were aware of the shifters as they were occasionally mentioned in wizarding texts, however, this would be the first time they met some. By the time the meeting had finished, Sirius looked over at his friend and sighed,

"Well we had best be getting back to Forks now!"

Remus nodded, "Probably, have you sent a letter to the goblins asking them to move the appointment from tomorrow?"

"Yup, it is the day after next. They also said they had a team ready to inspect Grimmauld Place so that we can do that after."

"Good good." Remus proclaimed, "Another thing off the to-do list then."

With that the pair apparated into the garden of the Cullens' house. Skipping up the steps, Sirius pushed open the door and walked into the house, well prepared to meet another vampire coven.

However, there are some things that one can not be prepared for. As soon as the duo had entered the house, Remus suddenly looked up and fixed his eyes on a figure standing by the coffee table.

"Mine" Remus snarled, the wolf so close to the front of his mind that it dominated all his instincts and actions; he pulled the pale blonde figure towards him with a victorious cry. Snuffling his nose into her hair he calmed down a breath at a time.

It took a few minutes for the poor werewolf to realise his actions and become so embarrassed, "Oh Merlin...I am so sorry. Gods above...Sorry..."

Tanya however, cared not for his apologies and with a smirk pulled the werewolf closer, "There is no need for any apology... I thought it was rather hot."

"Oh god." Remus exclaimed as he tried to turn to run from the room, "I am so sorry."

Tanya burbled a happy laugh, "I am not. Now, my name is Tanya Denali. And yours?"

The werewolf stuttered out, "Remus Lupin. I am..."

But he was interrupted, "If you try to apologise again I shall be most vexed." With that the blonde vampire calmly grabbed the werewolf by the bicep and pulled him towards the door.

As the pair left the room to find some privacy, Sirius turned to the smirking vampires who stood around the edge of the room, "Well, that was fun."

Emmett boomed out a laugh, "No. That was fantastic!"

Eleazar smiled gently, pleased to see that a member of his coven had found a mate, "A werewolf and a vampire? That is more than a little ironic!"

Kate turned to her sister, happy for Tanya's new relationship, "Just us two left now Irina!"

"Indeed sister, hopefully not too long now!"

Emmett was meanwhile laughing his head off, "It is probably a good thing that Remus is a werewolf, I doubt he would survive long with Tanya otherwise!"

As the others laughed, Sirius turned to Carlisle, "What does he mean by that?"

The doctor chuckled, "Ever heard of succubi?"

"Yes."

"Well you have just met three..."

There was a moment of silence before Sirius burst into fits of laughter, eventually collapsing into a nearby chair, "You mean Remus is mated to a succubus? That is fantastic! Oh, Merlin, I am so happy!"

* * *

Sitting in a car in Olympia, Alice giggled with happiness, very happy with her matchmaking. While she could not see Hattie nor Remus in her visions, she had seen a conversation between Tanya and her sisters the following morning and had, therefore, gleefully sent the text to their fellow vegetarian vampires that morning.

Beside her, Edward smirked, glad because Remus, whom he was very fond of, had got a mate and Tanya, who had lived for over a millennia without any hint of a mate, had finally found someone for her. At least Jasper no longer had to deal with her attempts at wooing, although she had stopped as soon as she had learned of Hattie's existence.

"Come on Pixie!" He proclaimed, "Let's get back home now...I think we have caused enough trouble for today!"

Alice laughed, "I don't know...I think we should move onto Irina and Kate now..."

Her husband groaned, "No... let's leave that for tomorrow. Let's get these paintball supplies back home for now. I am sure that now the Denali are here we can have another large battle. So long as my car doesn't get destroyed again" he complained.

He looked suspiciously at his wife when she froze slightly before gigging as the car raced down the roads towards Forks and home.

* * *

When, the following morning, Remus sidled into the kitchen to find some food, he tensed up when he saw his best friend sitting at the breakfast bar slowly decimating one of Esme's amazing cooked breakfasts. As he was about to turn to make an escape, preferring to delay his breakfast rather than have to deal with Sirius, he was noticed.

"Remmie!" Sirius said in an irritating sing-song manner.

"...Sirius."

"How are you old boy? Not too stiff I hope."

Remus grimaced as he opened the fridge and refused to answer the question. Not that that was enough to put Sirius off.

"Remmie! Come on... tell me all about it."

As the werewolf poured a glass of smoothie he continued to ignore his friend.

"Fine then!" Said friend proclaimed, "Be mean...Remmie... Don't ignore me, please tell me!"

"No."

"Please..."

"No."

"Pllllease..."

"Are you a total child?"

"Pleaseeee..."

"I will tell Heidi you interest in my love life..."

"Now that is just mean!" Sirius proclaimed, suddenly aware he was in dangerous territory as he was certain that Remus would actually tell his mate if he was not careful.

The werewolf smiled wickedly, "I know..."

* * *

 **Hope this was alright! Unfortunately my wonderful Beta is not going to be able to look at my stories anymore as she has too much on her plate. If anyone wants to take on the task or can recommend anyone, please PM me.**

 **As ever, tell me what you think and if you have any characters or places you would like to see, please do PM me! Also, if you see some glaring errors with my presentation of the _Harry Potter_ and _Twilight_ worlds, please do PM me. F200x**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I own neither** ** _Harry Potter_** **nor** ** _Twilight!_**

* * *

Once Sirius had finally finished teasing Remus, the werewolf was finally able to steer the conversation into more serious areas.

"So... we have to meet the shifters this morning?"

Sirius sighed and tapped the counter top with his wand, "Yup, Carlisle and I have already had a chat about their history and the treaty they made when the last pack ran in the 1930s. The main gist of it was that they can't enter the Quileute's' territory nor bite any humans, this includes turning or feeding."

Remus frowned, "What about the wolves themselves? If they are anything like me then we need to handle them carefully."

"It is odd, from what Carlisle has told me as well as what we were taught, it is clear there are large discrepancies between their origin stories and their behavior. Their tribal legends refer to them as 'spirit warriors' and it seems as though they could change into wolves even before vampires arrived on the continent. However, vampires, or 'Cold Ones' as they call them, seem to be especially reviled by the tribe due to past deaths."

"The books said they were magic or, at least, had some sort of magic attached to them. Didn't that scholar McHardy, suggest that shifters were descendants of squibs and their animal form was essentially a lesser animagus?" Remus mused, "Whatever the case, they have been here far longer than we have, I suppose the tribe is small now."

Sirius nodded, "Apparently, there are no more than 750 in the tribe now. The wolves are supposedly... temperamental and ruled by their emotions, particularly in the first few years after they have 'phased' for the first time."

"I take it 'phased' is what they call their change?" When Sirius had nodded, Remus continued, "Of course, they are ruled by their emotions, if it is anything like becoming a werewolf, then one is having to balance a human mind and a wolf's instincts. It was hard enough when it happened to me as a child but for teenage boys who are having to deal with natural hormonal imbalance and other pressures, it is sure to be even more difficult. Can girls phase too then?"

Sirius frowned, "No idea actually. I don't see why not, it happens on a gene change level that is passed down the Quileute tribal line so I can't see why not. Oh... I almost forgot, remember how the books said that the shifters were immortal?"

Remus thought back to his defense lessons, "I do remember some talk of it, why?"

"It is true, but the shifters actually have a choice."

"What?"

"I know, if they continue to phase then they do not age, the accelerate healing meaning they cannot physically age. If they choose to stop phasing, then they can continue on as normal really."

Remus stood and walked over to the oven and pulled out a dish of bacon that he had smelt, forking it onto his plate he frowned, "Must be a hard choice. They cannot really settle down and have a family as their partner is aging while they are not. And don't nick my bacon, Padfoot, get some of your own if you want but don't eat mine!"

The Lord Black withdrew his fork from his friend's plate with a pout, "Fine. Anyway, I should probably go and find Hattie, she had breakfast a few hours ago and, I believe, was making up for her abandoned math work from yesterday with Carlisle!"

Remus looked up, "That's a point, I missed the discussion on Hattie's meeting with the shifters yesterday, what happened?"

"Not a lot, she, of course, was completely fine with them and their ability to turn into horse sized wolves. They, on the other hand, didn't seem so calm about her ability to turn into a cute little cub and her talk about uncles' who were werewolves and could turn into dogs!"

Remus rubbed his forehead with a smile, "Why shouldn't I be surprised?"

"Oh!" Sirius exclaimed, as he turned back from his position near the kitchen door, "Emmett said we should watch the shifters' behavior around Hattie, apparently something wasn't quite natural. It might actually be her empathetic abilities or just another aspect of her future inheritance."

"Will do." The werewolf said with a wave of his fork as he went in search of more bacon... and perhaps some tomato ketchup and a roll too.

* * *

An hour later, a party of ten left the Cullen's house, leaving behind the Denali coven, although Tanya was loath to be separated from her newly found mate. Sirius, Remus and Hattie had all been bundled into Emmett's 4x4 and driven as far as the car could make it towards the clearing while all the vampire, aside from Emmett who was acting chauffeur, all ran alongside. Once the car could go no further, the vampires picked up their guests and ran with them.

They reached the last few layers of trees that hid the clearing, five minutes before the appointed time, and were not surprised to see that the three shifters and three other tribal members were already there. Deciding it would be a little humiliating for Remus and Sirius to arrive in the clearing carried by vampires, the two were deposited back on their feet while Hattie was left being held by Jasper, although she didn't see it as being nearly as embarrassing.

Edward looked between to his patriarch, "They know we are here, two of them are in their wolf form. The alpha is one in the human form."

Lowering his voice so that not even the wolves with their superior hearing could make out the words, Carlisle asked, "And the mood?"

The bronze haired vampire cocked his head as he pulled Alice close to him and answered in kind, "The Elders are wary but prepared to listen. Sam is the same, Paul is a hothead so be careful, Jared wants to see Hattie again. Don't know why."

Carlisle frowned as he looked as Jasper, who had heard his brother's words and so clutched at his mate even tighter and buried his face into the nape of her neck, trying to spread his scent over the body and calm himself with the scent of her blood and sound of her little heart.

"Right." The doctor said, "We should go; please, for gods' sake, be civil!"

It was perhaps a good thing, he mused, that they had Sirius and Remus as the pair made some noise as they entered the clearing, it was probably a lot less threatening that the silent entrance of the vampires. Once they were in view, he could see the group tense and the hackles on the two lupine figures rise as their hair seemed to stand on end, making them appear larger and even more imposing. The three Elders, Carlisle believed he could identify, the one in the wheelchair was Billy Black, the grandson of the man he had made the treaty with, the one to the right was Old Quil, whose white hair separated him from the others that surrounded him. While Billy Black may be the chief of the tribe, it was Old Quil who had almost more power in terms of the pack, for he had been alive during the time of the last pack, his father being one of the shifters who he had treated with. On the far side of Old Quil was Harry Clearwater, who, while not a close relation to the original pack, had a longstanding relationship with them and the tribe.

Carlisle saw Edward nod in his peripheral vision at his identification of the three Elders and also saw him flick his fingers slightly to gesture him on.

The two groups were only separated by fifteen meters now when the vampires stopped with Sirius and Remus. Carlisle, however, took one step more and briefly inclined his head at the Elders in a show of respect.

"Chief Black, Elders and members of the Quileute tribe, we are grateful you agreed to meet with us."

It was obvious they were slightly taken aback by the action and words and the two Elders turned to their Chief.

Chief Black frowned slightly, "Dr. Cullen, we too, are glad that you have come to speak to us and explain the situation."

Carlisle nodded at the admonishment in the response, "If I may, I shall introduce my family and out guests. When we were here in the 1930s we were only five; myself, my wife Esme, my son Emmett and his wife, Rosalie and my other son, Edward. Since then two more have joined us: Alice, who is Edward's mate and Jasper. They were animal drinkers before they came to us in the 1950s. I am sure that you are more interested in our other guests, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Harriet Potter-Volturi."

The Elders nodded at the introductions, casting wary eyes over Jasper who still held Hattie, and then fixing their eyes onto Sirius who had stepped forward.

"It is an honor to meet you." Sirius said, stepping forward, "I suppose you are aware of MACUSA?"

Billy Black immediately nodded along with the Elders, immediately understanding, although the younger three looked confused, "Is it to that that you are affiliated?" The Chief asked.

"Partially. Although, from across the pond."

The Elders nodded and Billy answered, "While the Elders are aware, due to past encounters with MACUSA representatives, the younger generation are not."

Sirius smirked, "Is that permission for a demonstration?"

The Chief mirrored his expression, "I should think so." He turned to the pack, "What you are about to see it real and is something that we were going to tell you about when we had someone there to prove it."

The animagus pulled his wand from his sleeve and flicked it once then looked around. Spying a leaf on the ground he flicked his wand at it, raising it into the ground with a silent spell. The wolves stepped back with a growl in fright, particularly when Sirius changed it into a pocket whistle, then the pocket whistle into a pen, the pen into a shoe, the shoe into goblet and then the goblet into a live rabbit, all without touching it.

He then looked over at Hattie who sat happily in her mate's arms. With an exhale of breath, he concentrated deeply for a moment, remembering Remus' teachings about the patronus and summoning the memories he needed. Before Azkaban he had never been able to perform a patronus but, with the help of Remus, and some wonderful memories with Hattie and Heidi, he had been able to create one.

" _Expecto Patronum."_ He whispered and almost immediately a wolf materialized from his wand. The patronus, when a corporal one, tended to have the form of something that protected you, after all, it was, in essence, a form of protection. For Sirius, the wolf of Remus Lupin represented the times he had enjoyed with James and the werewolf at Hogwarts and the protection and happiness he had enjoyed as one of the Marauders.

There were gasps from both groups as the wolf gamboled around, carefully checking the two shifters to see whether they were a danger. However, it's silver form soon dissolved into the air.

"Thank you, Mr. Black." The Chief said, looking to the pack who now stood frozen in shock, "I first became aware of the magical world when I became Chief. MACUSA visit every five years to ensure the tribe is well and whether there are any indication of youngsters shifting."

Sirius looked up, interested; while MACUSA obviously kept an eye on the tribe, he was interested to see the extent of their relationship and controls. "When was the last time they visited then?"

"Just over three years ago now."

"What is going on?" Sam croaked, "That man just turned a leaf into a bloody rabbit and no-one cares?"

"Sam Uley is it?" Sirius asked, at the affirmation he continued, "Remus, Hattie and I are part of a community that has been hidden within everyday life for centuries. We have governments, hospitals, a police force... everything one would expect, except that we have magic. I suppose we are rare, particularly in this area, as the majority of wizarding settlements in America are to the east. MACUSA is the magical government of America, and they attempt to monitor the known supernatural species, that is why your Elders are aware of them. While MACUSA are in contact with your tribe, they have no wish to interfere and so leave you to yourselves."

"Why don't they monitor the vampires then?"

Sirius sighed, "That is a rather long story. Basically, there are two types of vampires. Magical vampires and, what you are familiar with, no-maj or muggle vampires. I shall make sure you get some books on the subject, but MACUSA believed that your myths involved magical vampires. Or at least, that is what we suppose. Very few of the wizarding folk know about vampires like the Cullens'."

Sam rubbed his face, to know there was a magical world was complicated enough, and it was quickly becoming clear that this was not something one could learn about in a short meeting. He was slightly concerned about the magical government involvement with his people but realized that he would have to talk to the Elders to form a proper response. He was distracted from his thoughts by a slight whine by Jared who flicked his nose in the direction of the raven-haired girl still held by the unknown male vampire.

"This is why the girl can turn into a leopard?" The alpha postulated, trying to work out how she fitted into the whole situation.

Sirius considered the question, "I suppose so... you probably know of three types of beings: humans, shifters and vampires. In reality, there are hundreds. Nekos, veelas, nymphs, elves... I know that this is likely very difficult to understand but there is something called the creature inheritance that happens to around half of the traditional magical community and they 'transform' into their true species. Hattie's ability is just part of this, it is as natural to her as your transformations are...although she doesn't have much control of it yet."

"And Mr. Lupin, he is clearly not human?" The shifters were distressed by the unassuming man, he appeared harmless but their instincts were telling them to be wary of him, to not anger him and keep away. He smelt of the true wild and power, hidden behind a thin veneer.

"Ah. Carlisle once told me that you referred to yourselves as werewolves... that isn't true, you are shifters. Remus, however, is a werewolf."

The three young men quickly looked over at the man in horror, although he appeared to be almost blushing at their interest.

Sirius continued, "He is far more like the myths than you. Turns at the moon, blah bah blah. Although, Remmie, is a little special and, I suppose, is rather like the Cullens' in his preference to live a decent life."

"...Right." Sam said carefully as he turned back to Sirius, "Hattie said that you could turn into a dog?"

Sirius laughed slightly and turned to his god-daughter who grinned unrepentant from her mate's arms, "Telling tales about me already, pup!" With that he turned into his canine form.

By this point, the shifters could not even bring themselves to be surprised, after all, they had seen a leaf transform into a living and breathing rabbit and learned of the existence of werewolves.

"Well, that's just fine." Sam muttered as he rubbed his eyes, by the time he looked over at the dark-haired wizard he had returned to his regular form, "Anything else we should know?"

Sirius thought for a moment, "Nope. I think we have just about covered it. We will send you over some books but I am sure your Elders will explain their history with MACUSA. Trust me when I say, we don't want to harm or expose you. We, like you, live in secret, trying to defend and live normal lives."

"Why are you here then?" Paul asked in a tone that, while still wary, was not totally aggressive.

"Shifters, like nearly all other creatures, have mates I take it?" Receiving a nod, Sirius continued, "Well, Hattie found her mate in Jasper."

While the Elders seemed only surprised by this, the three shifters looked revolted, even the one in wolf form. Their looks rather confused Hattie who pulled slightly on her mate's sleeve in silent query. Jasper of course, got rather defensive when he realized why Hattie was unsettled and turned to the wolves, growling.

Sirius sighed, it had all been going so well, "Jasper, enough! Hattie and Jasper are mates, they are perfect matches. While this may seem a little unusual to you now, I can promise that when you meet yours nothing will ever matter so much. Nothing will come close."

"But the age..." Paul started, concerned for the young girl.

"You will be whatever your mate needs or wants. I shall not say anymore at this moment." Sirius stated, keen to get away from this topic while Hattie was still listening. "I believe it may be a good idea if you all have a discussion and we have another meeting in a few days when you have had time to process everything."

"That is a sound idea." Billy said, understanding what Sirius was trying to do, "We shall give you a call when we have spoken."

"We should be on our way then." Carlisle stated, "Hattie is supposed to be in lessons..."

The raven-haired girl pouted, "Really?"

"You missed them yesterday." Remus pointed out.

"There was a leaf..." Seeing no sympathy in her family's faces, she conceded, "Fine. But can I say goodbye to Sam and Paul and Jared first?"

Sirius was quick to nod, keen to see how the wolves behaved in close quarters to his goddaughter and prevent Jasper acting like a moron and spoil all their hard work.

When she had managed to escape Jasper's clutches, Hattie happily skipped over to Jared and hugged his lowered head.

"It's nice to see you again!" She said stroking the fur around his eyes, "We can see each other again, yes? Why don't you all come over for dinner? Esme makes the yummiest food and cakes. She made Uncle Siri, Uncle Remmie and I raspberry and chocolate cake yesterday."

Food was certainly something that appealed to shifters and Jared huffed in amusement at the little girl who squeezed her arms around him once more. She released him soon enough and almost tripped on her way to Sam who crouched down to her level.

"Hello, little leopard," He proclaimed.

"Hello!" Hattie replied, hugging him, "You'll come too?"

"We'll see." He decided to be diplomatic, "You have to check with everyone else first."

Hattie stopped for a second and turned to Esme, "Aunt Esme? Paul and Sam and Jared can come for supper, can't they?"

Esme smiled, "Of course, we shall check the fridge when we get home. Why don't we organize a picnic?"

Sam nodded appreciatively at the more neutral idea. "Sounds wonderful."

Paul did not crouch down to Hattie's level but that did not in any way deter the girl. Instead the girl just wrapped her arms around his legs and looked up to his face.

"Thank you for coming today. What's your favorite food?"

Paul grunted something before sighing and replying, "Burgers."

"We can have a barbecue!" Hattie announced, unaware of the humorous glances the shifters shot the vampires at the idea of a bunch of vampires attending anything with fire, "What's your favorite pudding?"

"Banoffee pie." The shifter answered, slightly unsure why he was even answering the girl.

"Okay. I'll remember that." Finally letting go of the tall boy's legs, Hattie turned to the three older men.

"I'm sorry I never introduced myself." Said Hattie, abashed at her lapse in manners.

"It is no problem." Billy replied, returning the handshake.

"I'm Harriet. You can come to the picnic too you know?"

Old Quil chuckled, "That's very kind of you."

Hattie smiled sunnily up, "Maybe we could play paintball together!"

"Paintball?" Harry asked, looking deeply amused.

"Yes. Daddy and everyone at home plays paintball once a week. We introduced it to the Cullens and now they play it too! It's really fun to watch."

Sirius chuckled, "Come on Hattie! Otherwise you are going to be very behind with your lessons. Don't pout pup. You'll see everyone at this barbecue soon enough!"

* * *

As soon as the Cullens' and their guests had returned home, the household broke up rather quickly as Remus was kidnapped by Tanya and taken in the direction of their bedroom while Hattie was taken by Carmen and Esme for her daily lessons.

Sirius himself apparated to Olympia. Unlike Britain, which was so small that it was not to exhausting to apparate from one end of the country to the other, America had a much larger land mass. Therefore, there were small pockets of wizarding spaces in each state capital of the country. From Olympia, Sirius was able to take one of the very large floos over to the east coast and New York.

Half an hour later, Sirius left the Gringotts tunnels between the New York and London branches. Looking down the corridor towards the main hall, it was clear it was the end of the day rush of shop owners and business people. He frowned, the time differences were confusing, particularly when one was dealing with them almost immediately.

A goblin stood nearby and immediately looked up when Sirius moved forward.

"Lord Black. I shall show you to Ragnok."

Without waiting for a reply, the goblin led him through the tunnels to the office of the Chief of the Goblin tribe. After receiving permission for entry, the goblin pushed open the door and gestured the human inside before closing the door behind.

"Lord Black, please sit." Ragnok proclaimed from the other side of his desk where he sat, quill in one hand and a thick ledger open on his desk.

"I am sorry I had to reorganize." Sirius stated as he lent back on the chair, "We had an encounter with those American shifter tribes?"

Ragnok looked interested, "What type?"

"Wolves. Bloody enormous things."

"I have only encountered them once before I believe." The old goblin said, "A couple centuries ago perhaps. Although they were mountain lions. I well remember the size they grew to. Anyway, it is not matter. Are you prepared to head to Grimmauld Place?"

"Certainly, thank you for the help you are providing."

Ragnok smirked a terrifying smile, "It was no inconvenience, we are hoping to use this as a training event."

"Oh, gods above." Sirius groaned, "I am not going to pretend I have any clue what surprises my darling family left and I will not rule out curses against muggleborns or anything similar. Please say these trainees have some experience?"

"Some... but we do need to teach them somehow. They are hopefully leaving for foreign parts if they pass this section of training."

"Huh. Good luck to them." Sirius muttered as Ragnok stood to show him out.

"They are, as always, bound by a contract so won't spread your family's little secrets to all and sundry. I wish I could come for the fun but I am afraid we have an international meeting this evening with the branch managers from Europe. Gripspur will accompany you."

"I hope it is profitable. And my thanks again."

Two minutes, Sirius was shown into one of the meeting rooms of Gringotts' where ten goblins, including Gripspur, sat looking over some plans of the house and arguing in gobbledegook. Behind them sat five wizards and one witch, all of whom looked rather wet behind the ears.

Sirius' eyes were immediately drawn to a red-haired figure who lounged in a chair, rolling his wand between his fingers as he listened to the goblins. The Lord Black was certain that, if he was not a Weasley, then he was a relation. The eldest child of Molly and Arthur had been born ten years before Hattie, and so would have just left Hogwarts, Sirius supposed this may well be him.

It was at this point that the goblins turned their attention to him and bowed, showing their respect to his wealth and title while not making themselves subservient. Sirius mimicked the action back before looking over to Gripspur.

"Good evening, Gripspur."

"Lord Black. We are prepared. We have a few questions before we leave."

Sirius immediately nodded and sat in the chair he had been gestured to, "Of course. I may not be able to answer all questions but I can try."

Gripspur nodded appreciatively, "We have studied the plans but they are not up to date, is there anything you would add?"

"I wouldn't think so...although the house has been deserted for six years so I would not rule out magical creature infestations. It is really the objects I would be worried about though. My mother had rather a large collection of curios that were dangerous to those who weren't aware that they tended to be cursed."

One of the goblins looked over, "And the wards?"

"I have no clue what state they will be in. The warding stone is beyond the library, which can only be entered by a member of House Black. Unlike Black Manor, Grimmauld Place does not have an ancient warding system. Instead, it was put in place by my parents, therefore, they are not as strong as you may have planned for. As my Mother died while I was in prison, I do not believe that the house will have been touched since then. However, most of the family houses have a fail-safe which activates when it has not been inhabited for a while. As far as I can remember, it just needs to be disabled by a family member. The warding stone is beyond the library, so I am afraid I am the only person who can find it. The only other unknown I can think of is whether a rather ancient house elf called Kreacher is still there. He was my Mother's rather than my Father's and attached to Grimmauld Place rather than Black Manor like the others. He was rather temperamental."

The goblins shrugged unconcerned, one of the spoke up, "One house elf and wards that aren't even fifty years old are nothing to be worried out. It is the objects that we are more interested in."

This did not seem to reassure the trainees who looked to each other rather worried, they had recognized the nobleman who had entered and were well aware of the reputation of his House. It seemed unlikely that any curses or wards would be mere tickling charms.

Gripspur rolled up the plans, "We shall be off then. We have permission to put up muggle repelling wards for three hours. The plan is to have removed the wards and cleansed the warding stone in that time."

The entire group stood and clutched a piece of rope that acted as a portkey.

Pushing open the door, Sirius carefully stepped in, looking down the dark corridor that was inch thick in dust. Taking a second step and then a third, the man was slightly surprised that nothing had attacked him yet. The library was the second door on the right, he reached it easily, pushing open the door and stepped into the room.

Eyes watering from the dust and the smell that accompanied it, he strode through the shelves, right to the back of the room where the door should be.

"Ahah!" The man proclaimed as he found the door, hidden in the paneling. The ward room was perhaps the only clean place in the house, charms prevented dust from contaminating the space. The room was small, particularly when compared to that at Black Manor; bare stone walls surrounding the small pedestal in the center. It was to this pedestal that Sirius walked to. The size of the house meant it did not need the elaborate runic constructions or stones that sustained the wards at Hogwarts, instead the pedestal had a circumference of maybe fifteen inches. Carved into the top face of the stone were the runes, while in the center rested a black opal around the size of a fingernail.

Sirius considered what he was going to do. Shrugging his shoulders slightly, he pulled out a knife and cut his finger and dropped it onto the central stone to prove he was a member of the family. Once this blood had vanished into the opal, he carefully lifted it out of its position in the plinth, effectively removing every ward on the place. The muggle repelling wards that the goblins had placed outside would ensure the house was kept hidden from the population outside while they performed their work.

Tossing the opal in his hand several times, Sirius turned and left the ward room and headed back through the library to let the goblins and their students in.

It rather amused him how the goblins all but strode through the door as if they owned the place while their human trainees edged in, as if expecting a dragon hiding around the corner.

Oh wait, he thought too soon! Sirius considered as he saw the visage of his dead mother appear from behind a set of moth-eaten curtains, permanently preserved in canvas and paint.

"YOU..." The painting screamed, looking down at them all in rage. "HOW DARE YOU BRING THOSE CREATURES INTO THIS HOUSE? HOW DARE YOU RETURN?"

Sirius tilted his head a little, "Quite easily actually. Hello Mother! I see you got that portrait you wanted. And don't be rude about the trainees, they really are trying very hard."

"YOU ARE A STAIN ON THIS FAMILY."

"Actually, I think you will find I'm actually the opposite." Sirius continued, he was certain that if it was his mother talking rather than her portrait, he would have been covered in her spittle by now. Magic above, what did he do to deserve this. He wondered whether a portrait could have a heart attack, by this point it seemed her face was so red that no blood could be anywhere but her head.

A croaky voice sounded from the shadows, causing the wizards and witches to turn from the portrait, their wands in the direction it came from.

"The family scum has returned to dishonor his poor family even more."

Sirius chuckled slightly, "I should have known you would have survived Kreacher. I am glad to see your insults haven't changed in the past decade."

The thin and dirty form of the elf appeared out of the shadows near the door down to the kitchen. "Kreacher's poor Mistress. Her heart would have broken to see what her House has become!"

"Oh, I don't know." Sirius turned to the portrait of his mother who was still spluttering like she had nearly drowned, "What do you think, mother dearest? I have joined the Wizengamot as a neutral member. I have restarted the neutral block with the Houses Potter and Longbottom. I am known throughout the world and have saved the reputation of _my_ House. I could call the President of MACUSA or France and have both turn up wherever I asked almost immediately. I have a wonderful partner who I am sure you would love, she is Italian and from a very ancient family. So, mother, how do you think I am doing as Lord?"

There was beautiful silence at last but Sirius was never one to leave it there and he had to go a little bit further, "And just so you know. I expelled darling Bellatrix from the family and dissolved her marriage! She is Nameless now! Great, isn't it? No more stains on the family?"

With a smirk Sirius threw a freezing charm at the canvas, halting the torrent of abuse that was sure to come. He turned to the group of trainees and goblins who stood behind him.

"That was more fun than I thought it would be! I might just keep the portrait so I can continue to annoy her for a few more years. Heidi will just adore being introduced to her I know."

"I am sure." One of the goblins said, without looking from the image of his mother. "We must not waste any more time." He turned to the trainees, "Group one start in the dining room. Group two will start in the drawing room. You have twenty minutes to get through them. Understand? Then go."

The six wizards and witches split into two groups and vanished into their respective rooms.

Sirius turned to Kreacher, he knew he had to keep the old house elf out of trouble. However, he now knew that his treatment of the elf as a child was unacceptable, perhaps if he had treated him like Hattie treated her elves, his childhood might have been a little easier. The Lord Black rather hoped that if he were to introduce Kreacher to his goddaughter, the former may find someone to serve whom he liked as much as he liked Regulus.

"Kreacher. You are to stay out of the way and not hinder the work of either the goblins or the wizards."

With a resentful nod, Kreacher vanished with a _crack,_ likely back down to the kitchens.

"Biting doorknob!" The trainee moaned, waving his hand in the air in an attempt to lessen the pain. Sirius grimaced, it looked as though he had just tried to open the door into the drawing room.

"Pathetic!" One of the others chuckled.

One of the goblins looked over, "Make sure you disinfect the injury," he snapped.

Sirius chuckled slightly as the poor trainee grimaced at his mistake as he waved his wand over his hand, "There are doxies in the curtains along there, I can hear them from here!" He was certain if he had been another trainee rather than a rather rich and powerful client he would have received a rather rude hand gesture.

Ten minutes later and Sirius sat in the dining room with a goblin on either side checking over the warding schemes.

"We have to keep it as a wizarding residence." Gripspur said, "You can't change a house like this back into a muggle one."

"Hmm." Sirius answered, "I suppose that for now we will keep it in the family. There isn't much point throwing money at it when we have other much nicer and more practical."

"What about the CRS?" The other goblin asked, "Where is the British branch for the committee based?"

"That's an idea actually. They're down in Kent in a rented property but this place could suffice. It could probably take a wizarding extension. It is a little too small at the moment, we need space for a few meeting rooms, probably forty work spaces and rather a lot of storage space."

"That is not inconceivable." Gripspur said as he pulled a plan from further down the table closer to him, "There are five floors and the basement kitchen. A cursory glance would suggest that we could add another level below the kitchen and double the width of the structure. Of course, this would be rather expensive."

Sirius nearly smiled, trust a goblin to talk about money so quickly, "I wouldn't expect anything else. I shall discuss it with my House and then check the planning permission with the Ministry. They might not like so many owls and visitors coming to such a public place but I am sure we can work something out."

Their conservation was interrupted by a polite coughing from behind them.

"Trainee Weasley!" Gripspur exclaimed, "What is it?"

"Manager Gripspur? I have found something but I really don't really know what it is." The redheaded man answered, "All detection spells show it to be very dark but I have never seen something like it. It doesn't open or do anything."

The goblin stuck a hand out, "Where was it?"

"A cabinet in the Drawing Room."

Sirius was able to see what the object in question was after Gripspur laid it on the table carefully. He carefully watched as both goblins studied the silver locket in front of him. He was rather surprised when the goblin turned to the trainee who he could not for certain tell was William.

"Thank you for bringing this to our attention. It is not something we can explain at this point in your training but we shall explain it later."

As soon as the boy had left earshot, Gripspur turned to him. "It's a horcrux."

Sirius gasped, "As in one of the ones we are actually looking for?"

"Indeed. Perhaps your family, as followers of Voldemort, were entrusted with a part of his soul. It is larger than the part found in your goddaughter but it is nowhere near a majority piece."

"Magic above!" Sirius moaned, "I can't say I am not happy to have found one but I would really rather not have found it in my house."

"If it makes you feel any better it does give us a clue as to where the others may be... Voldemort may have entrusted them to his followers."

Sirius thought for a second, "That's true. What are we going to do with it?"

The goblin sighed, "Test it. We need to find a way to transfer the soul shard from one object into another. Thus, with Harriet Potter, we can do the same. Then we will destroy them."

Sirius sighed, "Right. I am going to have a wander through the rest of the house for a few minutes...let you get on."

At their nods, Sirius stood and walked out of the room and up the stairs, going higher and higher. It was only when he reached the fourth floor landing that he stopped, looking at a pair of doors as familiar as the doors to his dorm at Hogwarts. The doors stood beside each other along the same wall, on the right was his own while just next door was that of his brother.

With a sigh, he pushed the latter open and stood for a moment on the threshold looking in at the room illuminated by the setting sun through the window. The room looked just as it must have done when the teenage Regulus left for the last time, a little time-capsule, preserving the life of the younger son of House Black.

"Kreacher heard Master talking to nasty goblins."

"Oh?" Sirius replied without any emotion, not keen to get into an argument with his mother's house elf as he studied his brother's room from the door.

"Yes. Good Master Regulus asked Kreacher to destroy nasty locket."

"...What?" Sirius asked, spinning to face the old elf who stood by the stairs. "When?"

"Master Regulus took Kreacher to help Dark Lord, said it was an honor. Dark Lord took poor Kreacher in a boat over a lake with bodies and into a cave. The Dark Lord made poor Kreacher drink from a bowl and then put locket in and filled it back up. Such pain Kreacher was in, but Kreacher is a good elf and remembered Master Regulus telling him to return to him.

When Kreacher returned, Master Regulus so sorry, so sorry, he helped Kreacher get better but made Kreacher go back. Back over the lake of bodies in a boat. Back to the poison, but good Master Regulus didn't make Kreacher drink it. He ordered Kreacher to take the locket and destroy it. He drank it himself and Kreacher tried to make him drink water, tried to stop the pain. Kreacher tried and tried to save good Master Regulus but he could not and hands from the lake dragged him down and down. But Kreacher was not a good elf and couldn't destroy the locket like Master Regulus commanded, he tried all his magic and fire and knives and hammers but he couldn't make a mark on it."

By the point he had finished, Kreacher was sobbing and Sirius had almost followed. What must it have been like for Regulus? To walk into that cave knowing that he would be sacrificing himself, to get a locket. He must have known what the locket was. They had said he had tried to leave and been killed for his troubles; that wasn't right; he had tried to leave but had been killed trying to bring Voldemort down. He had been killed by inferi with only a house elf for company and remembered as a Death Eater by one side of the population and a traitor by the other. Magic above. How could he have done that aged only eighteen?

Sirius stumbled towards the elf, "It's alright Kreacher. We are going to destroy it and the rest of them. Regulus' sacrifice won't be in vain." He patted the old being on the head before putting his arm around his thin shoulders which stiffened at the contact before, ever so slowly, relaxing.

"Master Sirius promises?"

"Yes." Sirius said, his voice fervent, if it was the last thing he did he would make sure that his brother's last actions were finished and remembered. He looked down at the elf, feeling bad for the sorry creature who had likely spent the past years, with only the portrait of his mother for company, trying to destroy an indestructible locket. "Kreacher? Would you like to come with me to speak to the goblins

about destroying the locket?"

There was silence for a moment apart from a couple of sniffles, "Yes, Kreacher would like that."

"Good."

* * *

Sirius parted ways with the goblins at Gringotts' that evening. They had found so many cursed objects that he was glad to hand over to the goblins. Everything goblin made was kept by the goblins as payment, while all the other cursed things were thrown into a furnace and destroyed. All except a silver locket that was handed over to Ragnok for him to inspect, Sirius was certain he would be hearing from the goblins in the near future.

The wards of 12 Grimmauld Place had been replaced and cleansed, removing all of the harmful family wards. Sirius was still recovering from the tale Kreacher had told him. He would forever regret the way things had ended with his brother but now he knew the truth he was determined to do right by him. Kreacher had been sent to Black Manor to live with the other house elves but Sirius felt that, in honor of his brother, he would keep the old elf close. According to Gripspur, Kreacher had likely suffered from his solitary existence and his proximity to the horcrux. The goblins had been very interested in the story and were keen to find the cave, while it did not have the real horcrux in it anymore, the area needed to be cleansed of the ill magic and inferi.

Stepping out onto the pavement of Diagon Alley, Sirius pulled his cloak closer. He would be back in America where it would only be midday, all this travelling through time zones was messing with his head. At least he wasn't muggle though, he would never have managed otherwise.

* * *

After Hattie had been put to bed that night, the Cullen coven gathered with their guests, vampires and wizarding alike, in the sitting room.

Emmett was keenly explaining the rules of paintball to a slightly bemused trio of sisters while Sirius and Remus recounted tales of the interactions between the Volturi and their little ward to Carmen and Eleazar.

"It is hilarious." Carlisle said as he handed two glasses of gin and tonic over to Sirius and Remus, "She has them, unknowingly, wrapped around her fingers and has done since they first met her!"

"Oh, I don't know." Remus laughed, "Caius wasn't too happy at the start...but now he lets Hattie sit and paint with him in his studio and teaches her Latin and Greek."

Eleazar was slightly shocked, "I didn't think anyone was allowed in his studio, even Athenodora."

"Well, she is allowed!" Sirius said, remembering the time he had wandered past the studio and saw the pair watching an old episode of Bob Ross and having a little competition.

"I am glad she is being looked after then." Carmen said, she, like Esme, had a mothering nature, "And she gets lessons from them?"

"She's having the oddest education a child could ever have. Being realistic, she isn't a genius; she is just lucky to have some amazingly inspirational teachers and a desire to learn that drives her to work. Her history knowledge is a bit odd though... she tends to be taught what the Volturi are aware of. As most of the time they did not leave the castle and interact with the humans, it means she has some blank spots. For instance, she knows all about Roman and Greek history and can tell you exactly what happened during the Battle of Thermopylae but ask her about the Victorian age in Britain and, I am pretty sure, she would have no clue what you were talking about!"

Remus' words received a round of chuckles from the room in general and Kate turned from the lively debate on paintball guns versus the grenades, "What about her magic? Is she taught that too?"

"Not really. She doesn't have a wand so we can't really teach her actual magic. Apart from anything else, Hattie, I am sure, would cause trouble at school if she got bored. Most wizarding children only really focus on history and languages before they start at school. Mainly, we teach Hattie magical history and meditating, although she is learning languages and other subjects as she goes."

"What does meditating have to do with magic?" Carlisle asked, highly interested in the idea.

"Meditating is the basis for quite a few things. The main of which is occlumency. It is possible for a wizard to read minds, occlumency is a way of protecting the mind from these attacks, and also makes it harder to be possessed. While it is not publicly known, Dumbledore is capable of reading minds, as is Voldemort; it is partly for her own protection. As it basically closes off the mind, for Hattie, who like Jasper can feel peoples' emotions, it is a way of helping her."

Edward looked up, interested by the possibility of this, after all, he could hear neither wizard's thoughts, "Is it something that only can be learned by wizards?"

Remus looked over sadly at the boy, knowing why he was asking, "It does require a magical core; however, the theory is still applicable to other situations I believe, it might be something for you to try; you may be able to lower the level of the thoughts you can read or block some of them out. Sirius only knows occlumency because meditations are required to become an animagus, therefore, it was easy for him to transfer one to the other."

Emmett turned to the pair of wizards, "Enough of these boring topics. I want more stories about your shenanigans at school."

Remus smothered a laugh, "Does it have to be limited to school? Has Sirius not bragged what his party trick used to be?"

At the curious shakes of the heads of the surrounding vampires, (and the frantic gesturing of Sirius trying to stop the werewolf continuing), Remus smirked widely, "He would stand on the bar and apparate from one end to the other. What was special was that he would leave various bits of clothes behind as he did so...his favorite was to leave his trousers at one end of the bar and appear in his underwear at the other, although one memorable time he was dressed as a true Scot and did not, therefore, have his dignity preserved in front of a pub of our friends by a pair of boxers."

"Nooo!" Emmett exclaimed, "That is awesome, I wish I could do that. Can we see?"

Sirius violently shook his head, "Gods above, no! It took a lot of practice... otherwise I might have left my legs behind with the trousers. I haven't done it for a while."

Remus added, "Plus...he tended to be so completely pissed when he did it that he wasn't really able to contemplate the consequences if it went wrong."

Emmett was just about ready to run over to the bar to find some alcohol to see whether he could recreate the effect and consequently,

Sirius felt the need to get the pressure off of himself. "Yes, but James at one point got so drunk that he transformed into a stag at his parent's house and tried to attack the hunting trophy decorations in the long gallery. He was wearing three of them in the morning when his parents arrived back to find him passed out at the top of the stairs because he couldn't walk back down them!"

Remus chuckled, "I forgot that story, it was the day after our NEWT results...wasn't one of the antler sets a moose? Dorea was a good sport about the whole thing... she hated them but wasn't allowed to get rid of them before as they were 'antique'."

Jasper sat, reclining in his seat, completely at peace and practically drowning in positivity and good emotions, "Do any of your stories not include you getting drunk?"

Remus grimaced while Sirius frowned slightly, "We didn't drink at school, except after quidditch matches."

"And Hogsmeade weekends..." Remus added.

"And after exams..."

"And house parties, although we shouldn't really talk about those. Sirius once added the fire whiskey to the wrong punch bowl and so instead of drunk sixth and seventh years, there were first and second years meandering around the room after half a glass."

"Good times!" Sirius proclaimed, ignoring the aggrieved glances from Esme and Carlisle.

"That still involves alcohol." Edward pointed out, "Although, I suppose you weren't actually drinking it, just hoping to drink it."

"What can we say? Hogwarts was a rather...liberal school when it came to it!" Sirius said in a joking tone.

"Actually, you lot have been to school so many times, you may have some sort of clue." Remus perked up, setting down his gin and tonic, "Hogwarts has a school board that is basically responsible for the grand scheme plans while the headmaster runs day to day. Sirius has a seat on the board and we were trying to work out how best to alter the school so it runs better. What, do you think, makes a good school?"

Alice tilted her head to the side, "Muggle day school is very different from a magical boarding school."

"We know...but we were at school almost a decade ago and, as you have likely worked out, didn't really behave appropriately."

Edward looked over to his siblings, "What about a suggestion box?"

"Those work but you have to deal with a lot of stupid complaints because students don't like a particular teacher or they don't like a certain rule." Rosalie complained.

"What is a suggestion box?" Sirius asked, still nursing his drink.

"Exactly what it sounds like." Jasper said, "A box that students can, anonymously, suggest changes to the school, or say what they don't like."

"That's a good idea." Remus mused, "If the students felt they were involved in the decision making, then it is just easier to implement changes."

"From a parents' point of view." Esme said, "We often get surveys asking us what we like about the school, what we don't like, what they could improve. We pay the fees and they are our children; I suppose it is the same thing though, making people feel like they have a voice."

"You know, unless a parent attended Hogwarts, then they never see it." Sirius told the room in general.

"What?" Carlisle and Esme exclaimed.

"I would never consider sending a child to a school unless I had seen it." Esme added, "As a parent, it makes me feel safe to know they are going somewhere suitable. Do you not have parents' meetings then?"

"No, what are they?" Sirius asked

Remus answered, more familiar with the muggle world than his friend, "A meeting when the parents' meet with the teachers of the school to discuss how their child is getting on."

Sirius snorted a laugh, "Probably a good thing we don't have those! Imagine my parents appearing at Hogwarts in all their finery only to be told I was a disruptive twerp for most of the time."

"You would not have survived your first year then!" Remus muttered, "Let alone seven years. Any other suggestions?"

The younger generation of the Cullens' frowned before Rosalie spoke up, "We have always had masses of chances to interact with other schools. Didn't you say a few months ago that the school was pretty isolated?" At Sirius' nod of agreement, the blonde continued, "Well, most of the schools we have attended in the past forty years have had sports matches once a week against other schools, trips, socials, exchanges..."

Remus frowned, "I don't think when I was at Hogwarts we had a single visitor from another school. Really, the only ones who do any networking outside of school, are those like Sirius whose families did the seasons abroad. It meant they were ahead really for everything."

"I swear the magical world is a prejudiced as the time I grew up in!" Carlisle mused.

"Sounds about right!" Sirius proclaimed as he raised his glass in mock cheer, "We do still use the same writing implements!"

* * *

While Hattie, Sirius and Remus were away traversing far parts of the globe, the Volturi vampires stayed home. They all quickly decided that life without Hattie was dull. They couldn't even play paintball as Sirius wasn't around to clear up the mess when they had finished.

The blonde king sighed as he looked over at his brother who still had his head buried in his book. "What has you so engrossed? Still the wand core and wood research?"

Aro nodded, "Indeed. I am trying to work out how to find the wood that I would need. Apparently, you can't just go and pick any branch. The tree has to have special qualities, either because of where it was grown or a special history to it."

"What does that mean?" Marcus questioned.

"Trees that are planted along lay lines are the best as they grow on a source of magic. The history thing means that if a tree was the centre of druidic or ritual practices then it is special again. There are some trees that take both, Glastonbury Tor is an example of this.

Although most of the trees have gone from there."

Caius raised an eyebrow, "Didn't Sirius say he would introduce you to the wandmaker in London?"

Aro smiled happily, "Yup. His grandfather wrote this book." He said, lifting the book from where it lay open in his lap. "There is a note here that says that sometimes trees that were grown within a family's ancient wards make very strong wands."

"Does that just mean that if there was a suitable tree in the Peverell Castle that would be the best wood to use as it is basically infused with family magic?"

"Yes. It doesn't really happen now as the tradition of making one's own wand fell out of favor."

Heidi walked into the throne room with an eager spring to her step, "My kings?" She asked.

Marcus and Caius looked up while Aro remained engrossed with his book, "Yes?" Marcus asked rising from his throne.

"It is my mate's birthday tomorrow, I was hoping for permission to leave to join him in America."

"The 3rd November?" Caius inquired.

"Yes."

"Have a lovely time. Give our regards to Sirius and Remus and a huge hug for Hattie." Marcus added as Heidi made her way to the door.

* * *

 ** _CRS Award Ceremony Location Announced! - By Rita Skeeter_**

 _The Committee of Research and Study have announced where the first award ceremony will be held on the 28th February. The location chosen is at Caerleon, South Wales. The area has long been believed to be the location of the famed Camelot and, therefore, makes the location the perfect setting to what is sure to be one of the greatest universal exchanges of knowledge in the recent wizarding history._

 _In a statement released by the Committee, the Lord Black said: "I am afraid we were rather taken aback by surprise at the interest that this conference and ceremony has generated and have thought long and hard about where we can host this ceremony. We have tried to pick a neutral place where politics and power are not central. The location of Camelot, which remains a beacon for culture and magic in our history, seemed perfect to us all. We have gained permission from the Ministry of Magic to set up a week-long conference for the national and international community._

 _Throughout the first five days, each of the twenty-five judges shall present a piece of their research to the public, it is our hope that we shall be able to inspire others and foster a new community of learning and research through this._

 _The sixth day we are dedicating to the younger generation. Throughout the day shall be mini-lectures, displays and activities. We have invited all wizarding schools to come but those who have not yet started school are as welcome to join us._

 _The seventh day is, of course, about the competition. The week-long celebration of learning shall conclude with a dinner and the winners of each of the three categories shall present their work._

 _Tickets are needed for this event to ensure the security and safety of all but we are planning to have a ballot for the first five days of the conference. If you wish to join us, please send in a note with which days you wish to join us before the end of December and we shall put your names into a ballot to arrange which lectures you will attend. Please note, all witches and wizards with Masteries or who are in an educational role will have first priority and should include proof of their status in their letter so we can arrange this for you._

 _Students attending the 'children's' day' do not need tickets as this is being arranged by the school in question. Younger children will need tickets so please send in an owl with the details to the CRS ticket office. The final day of the conference is by invitation only._

 _I can only thank you all for getting behind this idea and helping to celebrate the work of our community."_

 _So, there you have it, dearest readers! A chance to hear some of the greatest minds speak, a day for the children and a day for the competition winners, all at the place where Merlin once lived! The CRS seems to grow day by day and I am sure, will inspire many for years to come. Remember to get your ballots in quickly as I know there will be a huge number of people around the world trying to get any tickets they can! Remember, Nicholas Flamel will be lecturing! I, for one, will certainly be trying to find tickets!_

* * *

 **Sorry for such a long delay, I hadn't realised quite how long it was! I hope you enjoy this chapter. Huge thanks to my new Beta, TwistedImage, who has done been an amazing help to me.**

 **As ever, any suggestions, queries or requests, message me! Fx**


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